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3.  lo.xx 
LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


Purchased  by  the  Hamill  Missionary  Fund. 


BV  3270  .H37  1920 
Harris,  Edward  Norman 
A  star  in  the  East 


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A  STAR 
IN  THE  EAST 

An  Account  of  American  Baptist 
Missions  to  the  Karens  of  Burma 


REV.  EDWARD  NORMAN  HARRIS 

Missionary  of  The  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society 
to  The  Shwegyin  and  Paku  Karen  Missions. 


ILLUSTRATED 


"The  people  that  walked  in   darkness  have  seen  a  great 
lightr—U^.  9:2. 


Nxw  YoBK  Chicago 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

LOKDOK        AND        EDINBURGH 


Copyright,  1920,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  17  North  Wabash  Ave. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:       75     Princes     Street 


DEDICATION 

To  the  memory  of  his  father^  Rev,  Norman 
\Harris,  who  founded  the  Shwegyin  Karen  MiS' 
sion  and  built  up  there  a  rich  spiritual  heritage  by 
which  the  son  has  for  twenty-five  years  gratefully 
profited,  this  book  is  affectionately  dedicated  by 
the  author. 


PREFACE 

AMONG  the  most  successful  missions  in  the 
world  today  are  those  to  the  Karens  of 
Burma,  but  unfortunately  hitherto  little 
material  has  been  available  concerning  them  ex- 
cept in  scattered  reports  and  occasional  pamphlets, 
most  of  them  long  since  out  of  print.  The  writer 
feels  that  the  Christian  world  needs  to  have  its 
attention  called  again,  as  it  was  at  the  beginning 
of  the  work,  to  the  great  things  which  God  has 
done,  and  is  still  doing,  for  this  truly  remarkable 
people.  Tucked  away  in  an  obscure  corner  of  the 
earth,  they  were  not  only  kept  through  many  gen- 
erations measureably  true  to  the  inner  light  (Jno. 
1:9),  but  were  also  prepared  in  a  most  marvel- 
lous manner  for  the  reception  of  the  gospel  when- 
ever it  should  be  brought  to  them.  As  inscriptions 
on  rocks  and  on  brick  tablets  were  in  the  provi- 
dence of  God  hidden  away  for  thousands  of  years 
to  be  unearthed  in  these  recent  days  as  evidence 
of  the  reliability  of  the  Scriptures,  so,  it  would 
seem  these  people  were  hidden  away  from  the 
observation  of  men  to  be  brought  forth,  within 
comparatively  recent  times  as  a  blessed  confirma- 
tion of  the  faith  of  those  who  believe  in  God's 


6  PREFACE 

exceeding  graciousness  towards  men  of  all  times 
and  of  all  races  who  do  not  wilfully  blind  them- 
selves to  his  truth. 

Not  only  so,  but  the  continued  workings  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  hearts  of  these  people  at  the  present 
time  and  the  achievements  of  grace  manifested  in 
the  development  of  strong  Christian  character  and 
quickened  intelligence  and  even  in  the  unlooked 
for  physical  rehabilitation  of  the  Karen  race  as  a 
whole,  afford  a  fresh  demonstration  in  an  unex- 
pected quarter  of  the  universal  scope  and  range 
of  the  gospel's  power.  To  the  devout  student  of 
the  dealings  of  God  with  the  children  of  men,  there 
is  here  subject  matter  which  must  ever  be  of  ab- 
sorbing interest. 

Toungoo,  Burma.  E.  N.  H. 


CONTENTS 


I.    The  Karens  and  Their  Tradi- 
tions     15 

Burma,  when  Dr.  Judson  went  there,  an  obscure,  but  richly 
endowed  country,  cursed  by  its  kings. — Cruelty  and  oppression 
universal. — The  Karens  and  their  persecutions. — Dr.  Judson 
learns  of  their  existence. — Karen  tradition  of  the  creation 
and  fall. — Other  sayings. — Advantage  given  to  missionary  in 
preaching  to  Karens  by  reason  of  their  knowledge  of  God. — 
Character  of  the  Karen  people,  their  morality,  honesty  and  high 
idealism. — Their  traditon  about  their  progenitors  as  being 
mighty  because  of  righteousness. — Paul's  teaching  in  Rom. 
1:18-23. 

II.  Various  Theories  of  the  Origin 
AND  Racial  Connections  of 
the  Karens       .        .        .        .       28 

Their  own  account  of  the  river  of  sand  and  of  their  early 
migrations. — The  story  of  the  snails  as  showing  possible  racial 
connection  of  the  Karens  with  the  Muhsoes,  Kwes,  Kaws  and 
other  mountain  tribes  running  up  into  Western  China. — The 
Karen  tradition  regarding  their  book. — Possible  connection  of 
Karens  with  Nestorian  Christians. — Objections.— Theory  of 
their  Hebrew  origin,  supported  by  similarity  of  their  word  for 
God  to  Yahweh,  use  of  Semitic  sounds,  customs  resembling 
passover. — Possible  infiltration  of  Jewish  blood  in  early  times 
indicated  by  features  of  a  few.— Karens  as  a  race  Mongolian  in 
physiognomy  and  language. — No  clear  reference  to  flood,  and 
antediluvian  theory  of  Karen  origin. 

III.    The   Religion   of   the    Karen 

People 34 

The  Karens  know  of  God,  but  they  do  not  worship  him.— 
They  follow  Satan  instead.— This  explained  by  reference  to 
tradition  of  the  first  sickness. — Preaching  to  the  heathen. — 
Other  explanations  and  ideas. — A  jumble  of  superstitions. — 
Benignity  of  God  made  an  excuse  for  hot  worshipping  him. — 
Numberless  fears.— Yet  spirits  regarded  as  being  really  very 

7 


8  CONTENTS 

stupid. — The  wasps'  nest  over  the  door. — Dreams. — Other  re- 
ligious conceptions  sometimes  crude,  never  vile. — The  story  of 
the  dragon. — The  story  of  Taw  Meh  Pah. — Messianic  hope. — 
Inference,  better  follow  Satan  than  have  debased  conception 
of  God. 

IV.    Special    Preparation   for  the 

Reception  of  the  Gospel      .       47 

Although  Karens  forsook  God,  he  did  not  forsake  them. — 
Raised  up  prophets  among  them,  as  among  Israelites  of  old. — 
Their  promise  of  deliverance  and  defiance  of  their  enemies. — 
Their  prophecy  of  the  coming  of  the  white  brother  with  the 
long-lost  book  and  description  of  his  appearance. — Resulting 
cordiality  of  the  Karen  towards  his  white  brother. — Stories 
current  regarding  him :  Father  God's  funeral :  The  Karen 
traveler  and  the  white  brother  going  to  worship  God. — Loyalty 
of  Karens  to  British  government. — Warning  against  reception 
of  the  wrong  book,  e.  g.,  Buddhist  Scriptures. 

V.     Early  Karen  Apostles      .       .       '54 

Koh  Thah  Byu. — His  early  career  as  a  bandit. — His  servi- 
tude.— Instruction  by  Dr.  Judson. — Baptism. — Early  labors. — 
The  venerated  prayer  book. — Evangelistic  efforts  in  Rangoon 
and  Pegu  Districts. — Final  labors  in  Arakan. — Summary  of  his 
achievements. — His  manner  of  preaching.— -Saw  Tah  Ree. — 
His  search  for  the  truth. — His  satisfaction  in  finding  it. — Saw 
Doo  Moo. — Loss  of  wife  and  children. — Grief-stricken  wan- 
derings.— The  Balm  in  Gilead. — Return  to  Maulmein  and 
preparation  in  school  there. — His  subsequent  labors. — Saw 
Quah  Lah. 

VI.    Growth  and  Development  of 

THE  Work         ....       63 

Early  efforts  to  reach  the  Karens  through  the  medium  of  the 
Burmese  language. — Reasons  favoring  the  continuation  of  this 
policy. — Examples  in  Toungoo. — Mr.  Wade's  tour  to  Tah  Kreh 
and  the  demand  to  produce  the  Karen  book,  or  go  back  and 
fetch  it. — Reducing  the  Karen  language  to  writing. — Reasons 
for  adapting  the  Burmese  instead  of  the  Roman  alphabet. — 
Translation  of  the  bible. — The  hymn  book. — Education. — The 
second  Burmese  war. — Persecutions. — Extension  of  the  work 
to  Rangoon,  Bassein,  Henzada,  Shwegyin  and  Toungoo. 

VII.    Hindrances 71 

Ignorances  of  the  first  disciples. — They  knew  two  things  only.. 
that  their  book  had  been  brought  back,  and  that  they  need  not 


CONTENTS  9 

fear  evil  spirits  as  Jesus  is  stronger  than  the  evil  spirits.— Re- 
sult :  they  were  open  to  false  teachings  with  consequent  def ec- 
ions. — A  saving  warning. — Hampering  customs  and  practices 
of  the  heahen. — Malicious  stories:  The  Karen  disciple's  sup- 
posed death-bed  confession. — Essential  antagonism  of  human 
heart  to  demands  of  the  gospel. — Heathen  opinion  regarding 
drinking,  card-playing,  theater-going  and  dancing. — Perplexity 
regarding  the  many  faiths :  the  two  roads. — Rise  of  false  lead- 
ers among  heathen. — Koh  Sah  Yay. — But  all  these  hindrances 
turn  out  rather  for  strengthening  of  God's  chosen  people. 

yill.    Present  Attainments  in   Per- 
sonal Religion        ...       84 

a  period  of  reaction  follows  early  ingatherings. — Gains  have 
to  be  consolidated,  a  slow  process. — But  how  great  the  change 
may  be  seen  in  contrast  between  new  convert  and  trained  dis- 
ciple today. — New  convert  ignorant  of  Christ  and  his  work. — 
Apparently  changed  only  in  determination  to  worship  God. — 
Slow  in  casting  off  former  superstitions. — Explanation:  Al- 
though they  know  little  of  Christ,  yet  what  actually  draws 
them  is  Christ  in  God. — Heathen  seldom  led  to  profess  Chris- 
tianity by  selfish  considerations. — Gospel  self-guarding,  like  ark 
of  covenant. — The  man  with  the  apparition  vs.  the  aged  couple 
who  became  discouraged  but  could  not  give  up  their  faith. — 
Earnest,  tender  desire  of  Christians  for  conversion  of  heathen, 
the  Burmese  included. — The  preacher's  account  of  the  sick 
man. — Karens  seldom  refer  to  experiences. — But  develop  a 
spirit  of  resignation  truly  remarkable. — Too  Loo  Koo's  father. 
— God's  gracious  dealings  with  even  most  ignorant  and  be- 
nighted ;  the  young  man  blinded  by  a  bear. — The  fellowship  of 
saints. — Devotion  of  Karen  pastors  and  their  familiarity  with 
the  word. 

IX.  Present  Attainments  in 
Church  Organization,  Disci- 
pline AND  Effectiveness       .       98 

Churches  independent  from  the  beginning,  and  from  very 
early  date  self-supporting. — ^The  missionary's  function  simply 
advisory, — The  number  of  churches  and  communicants. — The 
pastors. — Church  discipline  not  lacking  in  effectiveness. — 
Associations  of  churches  with  their  own  presiding  officers, 
secretaries  and  treasurers. — What  is  meant  by  self-supporting 
churches. — Pastors  often  self-supporting,  or  may  even  prac- 
tically support  the  church.— Schools.— The  Theological  Semi- 
nary,—Liberality  of  Karen  Christians.— Instances  given.— Same 


10  CONTENTS 

laws  of  church  life  which  apply  in  America  true  also  of  Karen 
churches,  e.  g.,  reactionary  effect  of  missions. — The  jointed 
fishpole. — The  church  that  gave  for  missions  and  then  cleared 
off  its  own  debt. — Anti-mission  Baptist  vs.  mission  Baptists. — 
Putting  rice  into  other  people's  mouths  to  increase  one's  own 
strength. — Missions  and  the  Shwegyin  churches. — Shooting  the 
elephant. — Sending  the  pastor  who  was  needed  at  home  to  the 
distant  field. 

X.    Present  Attainments  in  Tem- 
poral Betterment  .        .        .     115 

Too  much  should  not  be  expected. — Process  of  civilization 
slower  than  that  of  evangelization. — Economy  the  real  basis  of 
western  civilization,  e.  g.,  chairs,  cuffs  and  collars,  typewriters, 
telephones,  stenographers. — Travel  and  cost  of  labor  in  civil- 
ized vs.  uncivilized  lands. — Barbarism  always  wasteful,  like 
uncultivated  land. — Area  required  to  support  a  tiger. — Yet 
most  people  think  civilization  consists  in  having  many  things 
rather  than  in  knowing  how  to  use  wisely  what  one  has. — 
Merchants  accomplishing  much  in  direction  of  increasing  wants 
of  people,  thus  making  them  more  industrious. — Change  within 
the  memory  of  the  writer. — Adoption  of  western  civilization 
out  of  hand  undesirable,  not  being  suited  to  conditions  of 
people. — What  those  conditions  are. — Story  of  Naw  Thoo  and 
Naw  Wah. — Difficulty  of  making  improvements  in  houses, 
food,  clothing,  etc. — The  chewing  of  the  betel  nut. — Its  effect. 
— Extracting  a  tooth  for  a  Siamese  prince. — Strength  of  the 
habit. — Its  explanation. — Christianity  implanting  the  seeds  of  a 
genuine  culture. — Converted  Karen  desires  first  of  all  to  get 
an  education,  then  to  improve  physical  surroundings. — Estab- 
lished villages  instead  of  shifting  abodes. — Christian  villages 
cleaner  than  heathen  villages. — Christians  discarding  use  of 
betel  nut. — Christians  attaining  to  positions  of  distinction  and 
honor. — Love  of  music. 

XL    The     Conservation     of     the 

Karen  Race  as  a  By-Product     133 

Fears  that  Karens  were  losing  ground. — Census  figures  show- 
ing the  contrary. — The  part  ascribed  by  the  Superintendent  of 
the  census  to  the  acceptance  of  Christianity. — Case  stronger 
than  he  puts  it. — Racial  conditions  in  Burma. — Is  Mr.  Webb 
correct? — Yes,  and  no. — Just  what  is  meant,  not  increase,  but 
differentiation. — Is  this  differentiation  desirable? — A  vigorous 
race  has  the  presumption  in  its  favor,  especially  a  race  of  the 
high  ideals  of  the  Karens. — What  have  the  missionaries  done 
to  bring  about  the  results  ?— Gathered  and  trained  a  Christian 


CONTENTS  11 

community. — Nothing  further  possible.— Heathen  population 
not  accessible  to  social  service,  e.  g.,  medicine. — Even  if  ac- 
cessible, missionaries  could  not  have  done  much,  because  meth- 
ods of  west  not  suited. — The  American  reaper. — Oriental  no 
more  conservative  than  occidental. — American  plows. — Mis- 
sionaries might  now  do  real  service  by  patient  experimentation. 
— Problems. — What  the  government  is  doing. — Special  qualifi- 
cation of  missionaries  for  task. — Even  if  missionaries  could 
have  done  more,  benefit  to  heathen  community  doubtful. — 
Christian  converts  ready  for  helpful  suggestions  and  really 
benefited. — Christians  rising  to  positions  of  dinstinction  and 
honor,  not  so  the  heathen. — Nevertheless  the  entire  race  being 
blessed. 

XII.    Is  There  Still  Need  for  Mis- 
sionaries?   149 

Crossing  the  Salween. — A  picture  of  conditions  still  exist- 
ing on  the  field. — The  stress  of  life  owing  to  physical  sur- 
roundings.— Cholera,  small  pox,  measles,  malaria;  mad  dogs, 
venomous  serpents ;  the  python,  the  tiger ;  lesser  pests. — These 
usually  presented  from  point  of  view  of  missionary,  but  have 
even  more  significance  from  point  of  view  of  native  Christians. 
— Economic  conditions. — The  Karen  saying  being  fulfilled. — 
Burma  a  land  of  plenty. — Famines,  due  to  rats,  infrequent  and 
of  limited  range. — The  country  being  invaded  from  all  sides 
and  rapidly  filled  up. — The  situation  becoming  more  and  more 
difficult  for  a  people  situated  like  the  Karens. — Religious  con- 
ditions.— Mild  as  yet,  but  getting  constantly  more  strenuous. — 
The  preacher  who  was  not  Jesus  Christ  or  the  white  book  or  a 
diver. — The  preacher's  story  of  the  lion  and  the  rabbit. — Con- 
ditions heading  up  for  a  mighty  struggle  later  on. — Buddhism 
becoming  self-conscious. — Tom  Paineism. — Deacons  and  danc- 
ing.— The  missionary's  place  and  part  with  reference  to  phy- 
sical, to  economic  and  to  religious  conditions. — Cheering  the 
paralytic. — Is  it  worth  while? 

XIII.     Karen  Characteristics     .       .175 

The  missionary  must  have  confidence  of  his  people,  and  to 
win  their  confidence  must  know  them. — Physical  characteristics 
of  the  Karens. — Their  costumes. — Their  occupations. — Reason 
enough  why  the  crow  should  steal. — Courtship  and  family  life. 
— Ideas  of  the  underworld. — Teaching  the  spirit  of  the  dead 
to  climb  a  tree. — Directions  reversed. — The  Karen  Atlas,  and 
how  to  stop  earthquakes. — Karens  vs.  Burmans  in  intellectual 
attainments. — Karens  not  philosophically  inclined. — Evidenced 
by  simplicity  of  language. — Does  not  prove  mental  incapacity. 
—Case  of  the  Australian  aborigines.— Simplicity  of  language  a 


12  CONTENTS 

help  to  clarity  of  thought.— The  use  of  Karen  as  a  mental  dis- 
cipline.— No  lack  of  intelligent  responsiveness. — Karens  tem- 
peramentally not  easy  to  understand. — Due  to  long  oppression. 
—A  "going  to  be  easy"  race.— An  illustration  of  general  human 
contrariness. — Humbling  the  pupils  with  humility. — The  gran- 
ite element  in  Karen  character. 

XIV.    A  Neglected  Opportunity       .     193 

The  economic  situation  again. — Relation  of  Christianity  to 
labor. — Need  of  industrial  training  in  schools. — Value  of  sci- 
entific agriculture  for  Karens. — Tardy  recognition  of  its  im- 
portance even  in  western  lands. — Difficulty  of  attainment  by 
Karens  unaided. — Government  endeavors. — The  missionary  in- 
termediary.— Problems  of  lowland  farming, — Soil  deteriora- 
tion.— Rotation  of  crops. — Fertilizers. — Insufficiency  of  cattle. 
— Fodder  and  ensilage. — Cattle  breeding. — Seed  selection. — 
Grafting. — Agricultural  implements. — Need  of  local  experi- 
mentation.— Problems  of  upland  farming. — Wastage  of  pres- 
ent system. — Proposed  remedies. — Removal. — Terracing. — Sub- 
stitution of  other  crops. — Possible  improvement  in  conditions. 
— Christian  community  already  prepared. — The  shrub  eradi- 
cator. — Need  of  initiative  from  without. — The  requirements  of 
the  situation. — Employment  of  an  agricultural  expert. — Voca- 
tional training  in  the  schools. — Experiment  stations. — School 
of  agriculture. — Probable  benefits. — Challenge. 

XV.     A  Call  to  Arms         .        .        .210 

The  impending  religious  conflict. — America  the  land  of  light 
and  leading. — Necessity  for  increased  emphasis  on  essential 
Christian  doctrines. — Relation  to  the  missionary  cause. — Ne- 
cessity for  deeper  consecration  and  self-sacrifice. — Not  as- 
ceticism but  devotion  to  a  great  cause. — Influence  of  mission- 
ary self-sacrifice  on  character  of  converts. — The  writer's  fath- 
er's experience. — Is  separation  of  families  right? — Expectation 
of  Jesus. — Lord  Roberts. — Children  catching  the  spirit  of  their 
parents. — Necessity  for  truer  appreciation  of  stupendousness 
and  worthwhileness  of  task  of  missions. — "The  best  belongs 
to  the  worst." — "Why  throw  away  your  talents?" — Missions 
and  humanitarianism. — The  lesson  of  the  book. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Frontispiece 
A  Karen  Christian  Young  Man  and  His 

Sister,  Tharawaddy,  Burma 
Two  Karen  Girls  in  National  Costume 

Opposite  Page 
Mountain  Karens  in  the  Old  Single  Piece 

Karen  Garment 32 

Hill  Karen  Women 32 

Karens  of  Mountain  Village  ...  90 
School  Boys  Drilling,  Toungoo,  Burma  .  100 
Four  Little  Karens,  Toungoo,  Burma  .      100 

Picking  Mangoes.    Karen  Theological  Sem- 
inary IN  THE  Distance    ....      104 
Idol  House,  Tharawaddy,  Burma  .        .      120 

Karen  Houses 120 

A  Karen  Man  Pounding  Rice  in  the  Moun- 
tains   176 

Karen    Woman    Weaving   on    the   Karen 

Loom  .......      176 

Karens  Reaping  Paddy   .        w        .        .        .      182 


13? 


I 

THE  KARENS  AND  THEIR  TRADITIONS 

WHEN  Dr.  Judson,  the  great  missionary, 
first  went  to  Burma  in  1813,  that  country 
was  little  known.  Its  entire  area  at  the 
present  time  is  only  equal  to  that  of  the  New  Eng- 
land States  together  with  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
New  Jersey  and  Maryland,  certainly  not  a  great 
extent  of  territory  as  compared  with  the  vast  do- 
minions of  India  and  China  which  border  it,  the 
one  on  the  northwest  and  the  other  on  the  north. 
But  in  Dr.  Judson's  day  all  that  could  have  any 
possible  interest  to  the  average  citizen  of  the  west- 
ern world  was  a  narrow  strip  of  country  extend- 
ing along  the  coast  where  a  few  European  mer- 
chants had  established  themselves  and  were  eking 
out  a  rather  precarious  existence. 

Then,  as  now,  Burma  was  richly  endowed  with 
natural  resources,  but  her  people  little  understood 
the  value  of  their  splendid  heritage.  To  use  the 
figure  of  speech  which  they  still  frequently  employ 
in  referring  to  themselves,  they  were  like  a  frog 
sitting  at  the  foot  of  a  stalk  of  sugar-cane  and 
knowing  nothing  of  its  worth  until  a  water  buffalo 

15 


16  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

or  carabao  comes  along  and  eats  up  the  luscious 
growth.  Rice  grew  profusely  on  the  rich  alluvial 
plains.  The  magnificent  forests  waved  with  trees 
supplying  timber  of  great  variety  and  value.  Some 
of  the  most  remarkable  oil  fields  In  the  world  were 
to  be  found  there,  and  they  were  seemingly  worked 
in  a  crude  way  long  before  the  value  of  the  oil  was 
fully  understood  In  America  or  In  Europe.  Burma 
was  the  home  of  the  pigeon-blood  ruby,  one  of  the 
rarest  and  most  precious  of  gems.  Elephants  with 
their  splendid  tusks  of  ivory  roamed  the  jungles, 
and  the  peacock  with  Its  gorgeous  plumage  fre- 
quented the  upland  glens.  But  the  country  was 
cursed  by  Its  kings.  Ignorant,  deceitful,  vain, 
superstitious,  blood-thirsty,  they  lived  surrounded 
by  sycophants,  knew  nothing  but  flattery,  and,  as 
might  be  expected,  practiced  the  utmost  cruelties 
even  upon  their  own  people.  When  a  new  king 
ascended  the  throne,  it  was  customary  for  him  to 
put  all  of  his  relatives  to  death,  lest  any  of  them 
should  contest  his  place.  One  king  who  failed  to 
build  himself  a  new  capital  in  accordance  with  the 
custom  of  the  realm,  sought  to  make  amends  by 
having  sixty  persons  burled  alive  under  the  walls 
of  his  palace.  It  is  said  of  a  certain  other  king 
that  when  a  subject  of  his  had  visited  England 
and  returned,  the  king  asked  him  what  he  had 
seen  in  that  strange  land,  and  in  particular  how 
it  compared  with  his  own  kingdom  of  Burma.  Was 
England  so  fair  and  rich  a  country?    "No,  your 


THE  KARENS,  THEIR  TRADITIONS      17 

Majesty,"  came  the  reply,  *'how  could  it  be,  for 
there  the  lordly  teak  does  not  grow."  And  the 
king  knew  no  better  than  to  accept  the  estimate 
as  true. 

Needless  to  say,  the  cruelty  and  vindictiveness 
which  surrounded  the  throne  spread  through  all 
the  lower  ranks  of  government  officialdom  and 
indeed  permeated  the  life  of  the  entire  people. 
Aside  from  the  monks  of  the  Buddhist  order — for 
Burma  was,  and  still  is,  one  of  the  chief  strong- 
holds of  Buddhism, — the  life  or  property  of  no 
one  was  safe.  If  any  of  the  common  people  were 
suspected  of  acquiring  more  wealth  than  was 
needed  for  bare  sustenance,  some  charge  would 
be  trumped  up  against  them,  and  their  property  be 
confiscated.  Cruelty  and  oppression  were  every- 
where known.  Justice  and  mercy  were  not  so  much 
as  dreamed  of.  And  if  this  was  the  attitude  of 
the  Burmese  even  towards  those  of  their  own  race, 
one  may  rightly  infer  that  it  would  be  still  more 
relentless  towards  those  of  other  races  living  under 
their  dominion. 

Among  the  most  persecuted  of  these  subject 
peoples  were  the  Karens  (accent  on  the  last  syl- 
lable). Naturally  a  timid  and  retiring  race,  they 
were  perhaps  all  the  more  heartily  hated  and  des- 
pised by  the  Burmans  on  that  account.  The  writer 
has  heard  it  related  by  some  who  remember  those 
early  days,  that  the  Karens  were  subjected  to  such 
terrible  and  heartless  oppression  that  they  were 


18  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

obliged  to  live  for  the  most  part  in  the  farthest 
recesses  of  the  tropical  jungles  or  in  the  fastnesses 
of  the  mountains.  Even  there  they  lived  in  such 
constant  terror  that  oftentimes  they  dared  not 
build  their  wretched  little  huts,  but  dwelt  in  caves 
or  under  overhanging  rocks,  and  would  not  leave 
their  abodes  and  return  to  them  by  the  same  route 
lest  a  path  should  be  formed  and  their  whereabouts 
should  be  discovered.  They  subsisted  by  culti- 
vating the  soil,  which  in  the  mountain  regions  is 
so  poor  that  two  crops  of  rice  cannot  be  grown 
successively  on  the  same  piece  of  land  and  fresh 
forests  must  be  cut  down  every  year,  entailing  a 
vast  amount  of  labor.  Long  distances  were  always 
placed  by  the  Karens  between  their  homes  and 
their  poor  little  fields,  and  fortunately  the  season 
for  cultivating  the  latter  fell  chiefly  during  the 
rains  when  the  swollen  mountain  torrents  gave 
practical  immunity  from  the  intrusions  of  their 
enemies.  But  oftentimes  for  six  months  on  a 
stretch  they  had  no  rice  and  were  obliged  to  sub- 
sist on  such  roots  and  herbs  as  they  could  find  grow- 
ing wild  in  the  jungles.  Their  chief  protection  was 
their  abject  poverty.  Relying  on  this  the  men 
sometimes  visited  the  cities  and  towns  of  the  Bur- 
mans,  but  the  women  never  ventured  near  them, 
knowing  that  to  do  so  would  be  to  subject  them- 
selves to  certain  Insult  and  abuse.  The  Karens  are 
naturally  lighter  of  skin  than  the  Burmans,  and 
it  is  said  that  most  of  the  latter  who  are  of  fairer 


THE  KARENS,  THEIR  TRADITIONS      19 

complexion  than  their  fellows  are  descendants  of 
Karen  women  who  had  been  captured  in  some  raid 
and  held  as  slaves. 

Dr.  Judson  seems  to  have  been  in  Burma  about 
fourteen  years  before  he  so  much  as  learned  of  the 
existence  of  the  Karen  people.  He  then  saw  a 
group  of  Karens  come  into  the  city  of  Rangoon 
and  made  inquiries  concerning  them.  He  was  told 
that  they  were  an  exceedingly  uncouth,  awkward, 
backward  race,  but  when  he  asked  concerning  their 
rehgion,  he  was  informed  that  they  did  not  wor- 
ship idols.  On  further  investigation  it  developed 
that  they  had  a  wonderful  body  of  traditions  and 
sayings  which  kept  alive  among  them  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  true  God,  creator  of  the  heavens  and 
of  the  earth. 

Following  is  a  translation  of  the  prose  form  of 

The  Karen  Tradition  of  the  Creation 
AND  Fall 

"God  created  heaven  and  earth." 

**Having  created  heaven  and  earth.  He  created 
the  sun,  He  created  the  moon,  He  created  the 
stars." 

"Having  created  the  sun,  the  moon  and  the 
stars,  He  created  man.  And  of  what  did  He 
create  man?     He  created  man  from  the  earth." 

"Having  created  man,  He  created  woman. 
How  did  He  create  woman?  He  took  a  rib  out 
of  the  man,  and  created  a  woman." 


20  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

"Having  created  woman,  He  created  life.  How 
did  He  create  life?  Father  God  said,  *I  love  my 
son  and  daughter;  I  will  give  them  my  great  life.* 
He  took  a  Httle  portion  of  His  own  life,  breathed 
into  the  nostrils  of  the  two  persons,  and  they  came 
to  life,  and  were  real  human  beings." 

"Having  created  man.  He  created  food  and 
drink.  He  created  rice.  He  created  water.  He 
created  fire.  He  created  cows,  He  created  ele- 
phants. He  created  birds." 

"Having  created  animals  Father  God  said,  *My 
son  and  daughter,  your  father  will  make  and  ^ve 
you  a  garden.  In  the  garden  are  seven  different 
kinds  of  trees,  bearing  seven  different  kinds  of 
fruit.  Among  the  seven  one  tree  is  not  good  to 
eat.  Do  not  eat  of  its  fruit.  If  you  eat  it,  you  will 
become  old,  you  will  die.  Eat  it  not.  All  else  that  I 
have  created  I  give  to  you.  Eat  and  drink  to  the 
full.  Once  in  seven  days  I  will  visit  you.  All  that 
I  have  commanded  you  observe  and  do.  Forget 
me  not.     Pray  to  me  every  morning  and  night'  " 

"Afterwards  Satan  came  and  said,  'Why  are  you 
here?'  'Our  Father  God  put  us  here,*  they  said. 
What  do  you  eat  here,*  Satan  inquired.  'Our 
Father  God  created  food  and  drink  for  us;  food 
without  end.*  Satan  said,  'Show  me  your  food.' 
And  they  went,  with  Satan  following  behind  them, 
to  show  him.  On  arriving  at  the  garden,  they 
showed  him  the  fruits,  saying,  'This  is  sweet,  this 
is  sour,  this  is  bitter,  this  is  astringent,  this  is  sav- 


THE  KARENS,  THEIR  TRADITIONS      21 

ory,  this  is  fiery;  but  here  is  a  tree, — we  know  not 
whether  it  be  sour  or  sweet.  Our  Father  God  said 
to  us,  "Do  not  eat  the  fruit  of  this  tree;  if  you  eat 
it,  you  will  die."  We  do  not  eat  it,  and  so  do  not 
know  whether  it  be  sour  or  sweet.*  'Not  so,  my 
children,'  Satan  replied.  'The  heart  of  your  Father 
God  is  not  with  you.  This  is  the  richest  and  sweet- 
est. It  is  richer  than  the  others,  sweeter  than  the 
others,  and  not  merely  richer  and  sweeter,  but  if 
you  eat  it,  you  will  possess  miraculous  powers,  you 
will  be  deified.  You  will  be  able  to  ascend  into 
heaven,  and  descend  into  the  earth.  You  will  be 
able  to  fly.  The  heart  of  your  God  is  not  with 
you.  This  desirable  thing  he  has  not  given  you. 
My  heart  is  not  like  the  heart  of  your  God.  He 
is  not  honest.  He  is  envious.  I  am  honest.  I  am 
not  envious.  I  love  you  and  tell  you  the  whole. 
Your  Father  God  does  not  love  you.  He  did  not 
tell  you  the  whole.  However  if  you  do  not  believe 
me,  do  not  eat  it.  But  if  each  one  will  taste  a  single 
fruit,  then  you  will  know.'  The  man  replied,  'Our 
Father  God  said  to  us,  "Eat  not  the  fruit  of  this 
tree,"  and  we  will  not  eat  it.'  Thus  saying,  he 
rose  up  and  went  away." 

"But  the  woman  listened  to  Satan,  and  being 
rather  pleased  with  what  he  said,  remained.  After 
Satan  had  continued  coaxing  her  for  a  long  time, 
she  wavered  and  asked  him,  'If  we  eat,  shall  we 
indeed  be  able  to  fly?'  'My  daughter,'  Satan  re- 
plied, *I  seek  to  persuade  you  because  I  love  you.' 


22  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

The  woman  took  one  of  the  fruits  and  ate.  And 
Satan  smilingly  said,  'My  daughter  listens  to  me 
very  well.  Now  go,  give  the  fruit  to  your  husband, 
and  say  to  him,  "I  have  eaten  the  fruit.  It  is  ex- 
ceedingly rich."  If  he  does  not  eat,  deceive  him, 
that  he  may  eat.  Otherwise,  you  see,  if  you  die, 
you  will  die  alone,  or,  if  you  become  deified,  you 
will  be  deified  alone.*  The  woman  doing  as  Satan 
told  her,  went  and  coaxed  her  husband,  till  she 
won  him  over  to  her  own  mind,  and  he  took  the 
fruit  from  the  hand  of  his  wife  and  ate.  When  he 
had  eaten,  she  went  to  Satan  and  said,  *My  hus- 
band has  eaten  the  fruit.'  On  hearing  that  he 
laughed  exceedingly  and  said,  'Now  you  have  lis- 
tened to  me  very  well  indeed,  my  son  and 
daughter'." 

"On  the  morning  of  the  day  after  they  had 
eaten,  God  visited  them.  But  they  did  not  follow 
Him  singing  praises,  as  they  had  been  wont  to  do. 
He  reproached  them  and  said,  'Why  have  you 
eaten  the  fruit  of  the  tree  I  commanded  you  not 
to  eat?'  They  did  not  dare  to  reply.  And  God 
cursed  them.  'Now  you  have  not  observed  what  I 
commanded  you,'  He  said;  'The  fruit  that  is  not 
good  to  eat,  I  told  you  not  to  eat,  but  you  have  not 
listened  and  have  eaten.  Therefore  you  shall  be- 
come old,  you  shall  get  sick,  and  you  shall  die.' " 

The  Karens  reveled  in  rhyming  couplets  which 
were  handed  down  from  their  forefathers  by  the 
hundred  and  by  the  thousand.     Many  of  these 


THE  KARENS,  THEIR  TRADITIONS      23 

couplets  are  so  ancient  that  their  meaning  Is  now 
obscure,  but  those  whose  meaning  Is  still  clear  set 
forth  conceptions  of  God  quite  In  accord  with 
the  tradition  given  above.  The  three  following 
stanzas  each  with  a  question  and  response  are  after 
a  translation  made  by  Mrs.  H.  M.  N.  Armstrong: 

The  earth  at  first  a  speck  of  froth; 
Who  created?     Who  remade  it? 
The  earth  at  first  a  star  of  foam; 
Who  created?     Who  remade  it? 
The  earth  at  first  a  speck  of  froth; 
God  created,  He  remade  it. 
The  earth  at  first  a  star  of  foam; 
God  Himself  formed,  He  re-formed  it. 

Heaven  vast  the  Eternal  placed, 
Earth  beneath  the  Eternal  placed; 
Heaven  and  earth  He  cleft  apart. 
Placed  whom  when  He  would  depart? 
The  Eternal  ordered  Heaven  vast. 
Fixed  the  earth's  foundation  fast; 
Heaven  and  earth  asunder  cleft, 
Man  and  woman  there  were  left. 

Like  a  top  the  round  earth  spinning. 
How  lived  folk  on  the  beginning? 
Like  thread  on  reel  it  circles  round, 
What  have  the  first  folk  on  it  found? 
Round  the  earth  spins  like  a  top, 
Turned  as  reel  without  a  stop; 
Here  the  first  folk  lived  at  leisure, 
Here  the  first  folk  lived  for  pleasure. 

Another  stanza  runs  as  follows  the  thought  being 
that  God  can  open  out  or  fold  up  the  universe  like 


24  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

a  telescope,  a  unique  and  really  sublime  conception: 

The  whole  round  earth  God  came  to  form. 
He  can  make  broad,  He  can  make  narrow ; 
The  whole  round  earth  God  came  to  mend, 
With  ease  He  can  make  broad  or  narrow. 

Instead  of  thinking  of  the  earth  as  being  God's 
footstool,  the  Karen  regards  it  as  His  couch,  hence 
the  following  rather  naive  lines  in  which  the 
thought  is  of  one  asleep  in  the  frail  native  bamboo 
house  when  those  about  must  tread  softly  lest  they 
awaken  him : — 

Earth  is  the  sleeping  place  of  God, 

Hence  noiseless  thou,  with  heel-prints  light, 

Thy  way  must  take ; 
Earth  is  His  widely  spreading  couch, — 
Soft-footed  steal  thou  through  the  night. 

Lest  He  awake. 

Another  saying  is,  "The  poor  in  spirit  and  the 
steadfast  in  heart  are  God's  delight."  Finally, 
where  is  there  to  be  found  in  any  literature  or  in 
any  folklore  a  finer  saying  than  this,  which  is  taken 
from  the  maxims  of  the  ancient  Karen  elder,— 
"Children  and  grandchildren,  it  is  because  men  are 
not  righteous  that  they  do  not  see  God." 

None  of  these  couplets  or  sayings  is  traceable  to 
modern  Christian  influences.  They  have  all  been 
collected  with  great  care  from  the  lips  of  the  hea- 
then themselves.  Some  of  the  ideas  presented 
here,  such  as  that  of  the  earth  being  at  first  of  the 


THE  KARENS,  THEIR  TRADITIONS      25 

nature  of  froth  or  foam,  and  that  of  the  earth 
revolving  like  a  top,  are  certainly  surprising,  but 
their  authenticity  and  genuineness  as  being  of  pure- 
ly Karen  origin  are  beyond  question. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once  what  an  advantage  is  given 
to  the  missionary  in  preaching  to  the  Karen  people. 
He  might  go  to  any  other  of  the  races  of  eastern 
Asia,  and  he  would  have  much  difficulty  in  finding 
words  in  their  language  which  would  adequately 
convey  to  them  the  idea  of  God  and  even  greater 
difficulty  in  arousing  in  them  a  sense  of  the  divine 
holiness.  But  let  him  go  to  even  the  most  back- 
ward Karens  and  use  their  word  K'sah  Y'wah,  and 
at  once  they  would  understand  the  very  same  God 
whom  he  worships,  the  God  who  is  the  creator  of 
the  heavens  and  of  the  earth,  the  God  who  is  om- 
nipotent, omniscient  and  omnipresent,  the  holy  and 
righteous  God. 

The  Karens  as  a  people  were,  in  general,  mild 
and  peaceable,  truthful  and  honest,  affectionte  and 
industrious.  Their  chief  failing  was,  and  is  to  this 
day,  drunkenness.  Among  the  heathen  every  fam- 
ily, or  at  least  every  village  or  little  cluster  of 
houses  has  its  still,  by  means  of  which  a  strong 
spirit  is  produced  from  rice,  the  chief  product  of 
the  country,  and  its  use  is  almost  universal.  But, 
aside  from  that,  the  Karens  were  far  and  away  the 
most  moral  and  the  most  virtuous  people  of  the 
east.  In  their  primitive  condition  before  they  came 
much  into  contact  with  other  races,  while  the  prac- 


26  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

tice  of  polygamywaspermitted,  It  was  very  unusual, 
and  fornication  and  adultery  were  of  the  rarest 
occurrence  among  them  and  were  severely  pun- 
ished. Harlotry  was  so  utterly  unknown  that  they 
had  no  word  for  it.  Every  one  built  his  granary 
out  in  the  rice  field,  perhaps  miles  away  from  his 
home,  and  yet  no  one  ever  thought  of  stealing 
the  grain.  If  any  one  found  a  tree  with  a  swarm 
of  bees  in  it  the  honey  from  which  was  not  yet 
ready  to  collect,  all  he  needed  to  do  to  establish  his 
claim  upon  it  and  secure  it  against  being  taken  by 
some  one  else,  was  to  twist  up  a  wisp  of  grass  and 
put  it  in  some  chink  at  the  foot  of  the  tree.  This 
interesting  custom  is  witnessed  to  this  day  in  the 
fact  that  the  Karen  word  for  sign  means  "the  *our 
grass'  thing  or  idea,'*  the  grass  having  been  a  sign 
of  ownership.  But  perhaps  an  even  stronger  evi- 
dence of  the  moral  idealism  of  the  Karen  people 
is  to  be  found  in  their  conception  of  their  ancestors, 
or  rather  of  the  contrast  between  themselves  and 
their  ancestors.  A  rumor  current  among  them 
runs  about  as  follows: — "Children  and  grandchild- 
ren, we  are  not  the  real  Karen  race.  The  real 
Karen  stock  lives  far  to  the  north  over  many  ranges 
of  mountains.  They  are  mighty  by  reason  of  right- 
eousness. We  are  but  the  offscourings  of  our  peo- 
ple and  were  cast  out  because  we  were  not  worthy 
to  remain  among  them."  Many  races  claim  that 
their  progenitors  were  mighty  because  of  physical 
prowess.     Is  there  another  which  claims  that  its 


THE  KARENS,  THEIR  TRADITIONS      27 

progenitors  were  mighty  because  of  righteousness, 
and  so  humbly  reveres  them? 

The  history  of  the  human  family  is  far  from 
flattering.  There  is  the  Light,  even  the  true  light 
that  lighteneth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world,  but  men  will  not  receive  it.  Well  may  we 
believe  that  Paul  was  right  when,  in  the  first  chap- 
ter of  Romans,  he  wrote  that  all  men  know  God, 
but  the  heathen  have  held  down  or  suppressed 
that  knowledge  In  unrighteousness.  They  blind 
their  eyes  against  it,  and  turn  to  their  various  sys- 
tems of  so-called  religion  which  obscure  to  them 
the  truth.  They  prefer  darkness  to  light.  But 
here  was  a  most  remarkable  and  unusual  phenome- 
non. In  the  midst  of  races  which  for  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  years  had,  like  the  Burmese,  pro- 
fessed the  atheistic  tenets  of  Buddhism,  or,  like  the 
Chinese,  had  been  given  over  to  the  senseless  wor- 
ship of  their  ancestors,  or  like  the  natives  of  India, 
while  professing  to  have  many  gods,  knew  nothing 
of  divine  holiness,  was  a  simple  minded  people 
which  still  held  to  the  primitive  revelation  which 
we  may  suppose  to  have  been  given  to  the  entire 
human  race,  maintained  their  virtue  through  many 
generations  and  kept  measureably  clear  the  con- 
ception and  knowledge  of  the  truth. 


II 


VARIOUS  THEORIES  OF  THE   ORIGIN 

AND  RACIAL  CONNECTIONS  OF 

THE  KARENS 

WHENCE  the  Karens  came  or  how  they 
got  their  traditions — unless,  as  has  been 
suggested,  It  may  have  been  by  prim- 
itive revelatlon^ — It  Is  impossible  to  say  with 
any  degree  of  certainty.  It  may  be  inferred 
from  their  own  accounts  that  they  left  the 
early  cradle  of  the  human  race  many  centuries  or 
millenniums  ago,  and,  following  along  the  north- 
ern slopes  of  the  Himalaya  Mountains,  or  crossing 
the  plains  of  Thibet,  reached  their  present  habitat 
by  way  of  Western  China.  These  traditions  are 
very  vague,  but  they  tell  of  passing  over  rivers  of 
sand,  which  may  refer  to  the  desert  of  Gobi.  Cer- 
tain it  Is  that  at  the  present  time,  or  more  especially 
at  the  time  when  they  were  first  brought  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  missionaries — since  then,  under 
the  protection  afforded  by  the  British  government 
many  of  them  have  come  down  to  the  more  con- 
genial life  upon  the  plains — they  occupied  for  the 
most  part  the  lower  ranges  In  Burma  and  Siam  of 

28 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  KARENS  29 

those  spurs  and  off-shoots  of  the  Himalayas  which 
find  their  ultimate  termini  in  the  partly  submerged 
mountain-islands  of  the  Malayan  Archipelago. 
There  is  a  curious  story  to  the  effect  that  on  the 
early  migrations  from  the  northern  country  there 
were  ninety-nine  families  or  tribes  in  all,  but  that 
they  stopped  to  make  their  dinner  of  snails  which 
they  found  in  great  abundance.  They  knew  noth- 
ing, however,  of  sucking  them  out  of  their  shells, 
and  so  cooked  them  as  they  were,  adding  a  few 
sprigs  of  an  herb  which  gave  out  a  blood-red  juice. 
Thirty-three  families,  including  the  Karens,  boiled 
their  snails  for  a  while,  and,  finding  that  they  were 
not  soft,  and  supposing  that  the  red  juice  was  the 
blood  of  the  snails  still  uncooked,  left  them  as  they 
were  and  pushed  on,  while  the  sixty-six  other  fam- 
ilies, waiting  to  cook  their  snails  soft,  were  left  be- 
hind to  this  day.  These  were  the  Muhsoes,  Kwes, 
Kaws  and  other  closely  allied  races  which  extend 
far  up  into  the  mountainous  regions  of  western 
China  between  whom  and  the  Karens  there  seems 
little  doubt  that  there  is  a  certain  affinity.  A 
comparative  study  of  their  languages  such  as  has 
been  carried  out  in  the  case  of  the  races  of  western 
Europe,  might  perhaps  unravel  to  some  extent  the 
history  of  these  interesting  peoples,  but  nothing  of 
the  kind  has  yet  been  adequately  attempted. 

Although  the  Karens  had  no  literature  when  the 
missionaries  came  to  them — not  so  much  as  an  al- 
phabet— ^they  nevertheless  had  a  saying  among 


30  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

themselves  that  they  had  once  had  a  book  which 
taught  them  the  way  of  life,  but  that  through  their 
carelessness  they  lost  it.  How  the  book  was  lost 
did  not  clearly  appear.  Some  said,  they  left  it 
under  the  eaves  of  the  house,  and  the  fowls 
scratching  about,  dislodged  it  so  that  it  fell  to  the 
ground,  and  there  the  pigs,  rooting  around,  tore  it 
to  pieces  or  covered  it  up.  Others  said  that  the 
book  was  placed  on  the  stump  of  a  tree  where,  be- 
ing of  leather,  it  became  softened  by  the  action  of 
the  water  during  the  rainy  season,  and  the  hungry 
dogs  found  it  and  ate  it  up.  But  granting  an  ele- 
ment of  truth  in  the  essential  parts  of  this  narra- 
tive, no  one  can  say  at  the  present  time  what  the 
Karen  book  was,  or  even  whether  it  was  the  source 
of  their  traditions. 

It  is  of  course  possible  that  the  Karens  derived 
their  ideas  from  the  Nestorian  Christians  at  the 
same  time  that  the  gospel  was  carried  by  them  into 
China.  But  a  serious  objection  to  this  theory  is 
that  they  have  no  knowledge  of  Christ — ^which 
would  hardly  seem  possible  if  they  had  come  into 
contact  with  that  source  of  information.  A  fa- 
vorite view  entertained  by  many  of  the  early  mis- 
sionaries was  that  the  Karens  belonged  to  the  lost 
tribes  of  Israel.  This  opinion  seems  not  to  be  so 
commonly  held  at  the  present  day,  and  yet  there 
IS  much  to  favor  it.  The  Karen  name  for  God, 
l^Vah,  is  very  like  Yahweh  which  scholars  sup- 
pose to  have  been  the  ancient  Hebrew  pronun- 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  KARENS  31 

elation  of  the  sacred  name  Jehovah.  The 
Karen  language  has  several  sounds  which  were 
common  to  the  Semitic  languages,  but  do  not  ap- 
pear to  be  in  use  except  in  a  limited  degree  among 
the  other  races  of  eastern  Asia.  The  Karens  know 
nothing  of  circumcision,  but  they  have  certain  cus- 
toms which  remind  one  of  some  of  the  Mosaic  in- 
stitutions, notably  the  passover.  When  any  one  is 
taken  ill,  all  the  members  of  the  family  will  come 
together  In  the  house — and  they  often  travel  long 
distances  in  order  that  the  family  circle  may  be 
complete^ — and  eat  a  pig.  No  bone  of  the  pig  must 
be  broken,  and  no  one  must  go  down  out  of  the 
house  until  the  ceremony  is  over.  Of  course  this 
custom  differs  from  that  of  the  passover  in  that  the 
pig  was  an  abomination  to  the  Jew.  But  the  use 
of  the  pig  instead  of  the  lamb  might  be  accounted 
for  from  the  fact  that,  the  Karens  having  no  sheep, 
the  pig  would  be  the  most  convenient  substitute. 
Some  of  the  early  missionaries  even  thought  they 
could  discern  a  Jewish  cast  in  the  Karen  physiog- 
nomy. The  present  writer  has  himself  seen  a  few 
Karens  who  had  the  aquiline  nose  characteristic  of 
the  Israelitish  race.  Several  of  these  are  members 
of  a  family  in  his  own  field  which  is  descended  from 
an  old  priestly  line.  If  further  observation  and 
inquiry  should  elicit  other  instances  of  the  kind,  the 
fact  might  indicate  that,  whatever  may  have  been 
the  origin  of  the  Karen  race  as  a  whole,  it  received 
in  very  early  times  an  infiltration  of  Jewish  people 


32  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

who  became  its  instructors  and  religious  leaders. 
More  than  this  cannot  at  the  present  time  be  said. 
In  general,  however,  the  Karens  are  purely  Mon- 
golian in  their  features  and  characteristics.  They 
are  shorter  in  stature  and  darker  in  color  than  the 
Chinese,  but  not  so  dark  as  either  the  Burmese  or 
the  Siamese.  Like  all  these  races,  they  have  broad 
cheek-bones  and  wide-flat  nostrils,  but  not  the  al- 
mond eyes  of  the  Chinese.  Their  language,  of 
which  there  are  several  dialects,  is  monosyllabic, 
and  is  characterized  by  the  peculiar  intonations 
with  which  all  students  of  the  languages  of  south- 
eastern Asia  are  familiar.  Thus  the  word  *'meh" 
pronounced  in  a  high,  sustained  key  means  "tooth'* ; 
pronounced  with  a  heavy,  falling  accent  it  means 
*'tair';  terminated  abruptly  on  a  middle  pitch  it 
means  *'eye'';  a  short,  quick  accent  on  a  rather  high 
key  gives  it  the  significance  of  *'sand";  a  gentle 
circumflex  accent  makes  it  mean  a  "mole'*  or  some 
such  disfigurement  of  the  person;  and,  most  difii- 
cult  of  all  for  the  foreigner  to  acquire,  a  somewhat 
prolonged  accent  with  a  peculiar  resonant  quality 
of  tone  gives  the  meaning  '^bridal  gift." 

A  very  singular  circumstance  in  connection  with 
the  Karen  traditions  is  that  they  seem  to  contain  no 
distinct  and  clear  references  to  the  flood,  accounts 
of  which  are  so  common  among  most  primitive 
races.  On  account  of  this  peculiarity  of  Karen  tra- 
dition the  theory  has  sometimes  been  broached  that 
the  Karens  may  have  forsaken  the  cradle  of  the 


^^^ 

HHH^^rT^H^^^^H^H! 

H^^^^H^B  ^x  W^ml'  'mm,  m 

H ' J\  "v^^IHh 

^^m^^^mm^^ 

HhH 

BBB 

MOUNTAIN    KARENS    IN   THE  OLD   SINGLE   PIECE   KAREN   GARMENT 


W?'M 

BJ 

^jllll 

B'M 

H*4W. 

^] 

:4# 

r^^ 

fW 

^>5^  : 

i 

HILL  KAREN   WOMEN 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  KARENS  33 

human  race  even  before  the  flood.  This  position 
would  perhaps  be  tenable  if,  as  some  affirm,  the 
Scriptures  do  not  assert  the  absolute  universality 
of  the  flood  but  only  that  it  was  co-extensive  with 
the  then  known  world. 

But,  whatever  view  may  be  entertained  of  the 
origin  of  the  Karen  traditions  of  the  creation  and 
fall,  they  certainly  seem  to  have  been  derived 
originally  from  the  same  source  as  the  account 
given  in  the  Scripture,  if  not  from  the  Scripture 
itself,  and  they  are  no  doubt  of  great  antiquity. 
Their  preservation  in  so  great  purity  by  mere  word 
of  mouth  is  certainly  remarkable,  but  not  incred- 
ible, especially  since  the  fact  has  a  well-known  par- 
allel in  the  Homeric  poems  which  were  in  like  man- 
ner passed  on  verbally  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion. Moreover  the  natural  isolation  of  a  hill 
people  would  keep  such  transmissions  free  from 
extraneous  ideas  to  which  contact  with  other  races 
might  render  them  liable. 


Ill 

THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  KAREN  PEOPLE 

HAVING  these  wonderful  traditions  of  the 
creation  and  fall  and  these  sublime  concep- 
tions of  God,  it  might  be  thought  that  the 
Karens  would  need  nothing  more;  they  would  of 
course  worship  God,  and  there  would  be  no  occa- 
sion for  sending  them  missionaries.  But,  although 
the  Karens  knew  of  God,  they  did  not  worship 
him.  In  times  of  persecution,  to  be  sure,  their 
priests  would  gather  them  together  and  offer  pray- 
ers on  their  behalf,  one  of  which  is  still  preserved 
in  the  following  form : — 

*'Our  Father  in  heaven,  we  are  greatly  op- 
pressed; we  get  down  from  our  houses  when  the 
hens  get  down  from  their  roost;  we  return  home 
when  the  hens  go  to  roost  again.  If  we  get  four 
annas,  it  is  taken  away;  if  we  get  two  annas,  it  is 
taken  away.  Our  graves  are  dug  seven  cubits  deep, 
and  they  scrape  in  the  sand  above  us ;  there  is  none 
to  lift  our  heads,  there  is  none  to  carry  our  feet. 
Come  to  us,  O  Lord,  come  to  us.'* 

To  read  these  words  now  is  affecting.  They 
show  how  near  the  Karens  came  to  a  true  concep- 

34 


RELIGION  OF  THE  KAREN  PEOPLE    35 

tion  of  the  God  of  grace  and  how  easily  they  might 
have  worshipped  him.  But  these  prayers  were 
only  occasional.  In  general  the  people  did  not 
profess  to  pray  to  God  or  worship  him  in  any  way. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  comes  with  something  of  a 
shock  to  hear  them  acknowledge  that  their  religion, 
such  as  it  is,  consists  in  serving  Satan,  the  one  who 
deceived  them  in  the  beginning,  and  carrying  out 
his  instructions. 

Various  accounts  are  given  as  to  how  this 
strange  apostacy  arose.  One  is  to  the  effect  that 
after  the  fall  one  of  the  children  of  the  first  pair 
was  taken  ill,  and  the  parents  said  to  themselves, 
"What  shall  we  do?  God  has  forsaken  us.  We 
must  betake  ourselves  to  Satan  again.'^  So  they 
went  to  Satan,  and  asked  him  what  they  should  do. 
*'Well,"  said  he,  "you  must  get  a  pig."  So  they 
got  a  pig,  and  Satan  taught  them  certain  ceremo- 
nies that  they  must  go  through  with.  And  they 
went  through  with  these  ceremonies,  and  surely 
enough  the  child  recovered.  But  a  few  days  after, 
another  child  was  taken  ill,  and  so  they  went  to 
Satan  again,  and  asked  him  what  they  should  do. 
"Well,"  said  he,  "did  you  get  a  pig  and  go  through 
with  the  ceremonies  I  taught  you?"  "Oh,  yes," 
they  said,  "we  have  done  all  that,  and  still  our 
child  is  not  getting  any  better,  but  is  rather  grow- 
ing worse."  "Well,  then,"  said  Satan,  "you  must 
catch  a  fowl."  So  they  caught  a  fowl,  and  Satan 
taught  them  how  to  divine  the  omens  from  the 


86  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

bones  of  the  fowl.  Just  what  the  process  is,  the 
writer  has  not  learned,  but  it  seems  from  the  ac- 
counts given  him  to  be  something  like  breaking  the 
"wishbone,**  as  is  sometimes  done  among  the  chil- 
dren of  white  people.  They  did  just  as  Satan  told 
them  to  do,  but  instead  of  getting  better  their 
child  continued  to  grow  worse  and  finally  died.  So 
they  went  to  Satan  again,  and  said,  *'Here,  what 
do  you  mean?  Our  child  was  taken  ill,  and  we 
got  a  pig,  and  went  through  with  the  ceremonies 
you  taught  us,  and  when  that  did  not  suffice,  we  got 
a  fowl,  and  did  just  as  you  told  us  to  do;  but  in- 
stead of  getting  any  better  our  child  continued  to 
grow  worse.  In  fact  it  died."  ''Oh,  well,'*  said 
Satan,  ''whenever  any  one  of  you  is  taken  ill,  you 
must  get  a  pig  and  go  through  with  the  ceremonies 
I  taught  you,  and  if  that  does  not  suffice,  you  must 
get  a  fowl,  and  do  just  as  I  told  you  to  do,  and — ** 
here  Satan  used  a  play  upon  words  which  made  it 
possible  to  understand  his  meaning  in  either  one 
of  two  ways ;  that  if  the  omens  proved  favorable, 
the  person  would  live,  and  if  unfavorable,  the  per- 
son would  die,  or,  what  was  an  absolutely  true,  but 
also  aH  utterly  heartless  thing  to  say,  that  "If  he  is 
to  live,  he  will  live  and  if  he  is  to  die,  he  will  die.** 
And  that  is  all  the  comfort  and  consolation  that 
those  poor  people  have  had  from  that  day  to  this, 
for  whenever  any  one  of  them  is  taken  ill,  they 
get  pigs  and  fowls  and  do  just  as  Satan  taught  them 
to  do,  and  surely  enough  it  happens  just  as  Satan 


RELIGION  OF  THE  KAREN  PEOPLE    37 

said — he  must  be  given  credit  for  telling  the  truth 
for  once  in  his  life — if  the  person  is  to  live,  he 
lives,  and  if  he  is  to  die,  he  dies. 

The  writer  sometimes  avails  himself  of  this 
account  in  preaching  to  the  heathen.  He  meets  an 
old  man  on  the  jungle  path — for  over  much  of  the 
territory  which  he  traverses  there  is  nothing  which 
one  could  dignify  by  the  title  of  "roads" — and 
says  to  him,  "Uncle,"  a  title  of  respect  which  it 
is  customary  to  use  in  addressing  a  senior,  "did  you 
know  that  the  Karen  tradition  is  grievously  at 
error  in  one  point?"  "Why,  no,"  he  says,  "I  had 
not  thought  of  it."  Then  the  missionary  goes  on 
to  say  that  where  the  Karen  tradition  narrates  the 
creation  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  how  God 
created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  the  sun  and 
the  moon  and  the  stars,  how  he  created  the  grasses 
of  the  field  and  the  trees  of  the  forest,  and  how  he 
created  man  and  woman,  and  placed  them  in  the 
garden,  and  gave  them  the  command  that  they 
might  eat  of  the  fruit  of  all  the  trees  of  the  garden 
save  one,  but  should  not  eat  of  that  lest  they  die, 
and  how  they  disregarded  the  command,  that  is  all 
true,  but  where  the  Karen  tradition  goes  on  to 
say  that  God  forsook  the  Karen  people,  there  it  is 
in  error,  and  very  grievously  in  error.  For,  if  a 
child  says,  "I  left  my  mother,"  that  is  one  thing, 
but  if  it  says,  "My  mother  left  me,"  that  is  an  en- 
tirely different  thing.  For,  if  it  says,  "I  left  my 
mother,"  it  is  placing  blame  on  no  one  but  itself, 


38  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

but,  if  it  says,  **My  mother  left  me,"  it  seems  to 
be  blaming  the  mother,  for  the  mother  ought  to 
care  for  the  child.  "And  now,"  says  the  mission- 
ary, "if  you  Xarens  would  say,  'We  have  for- 
saken God,'  that  would  be  one  thing,  but  when  you 
say  that  God  has  forsaken  you,  that  is  an  entirely 
different  thing.  For,  if  you  would  say  that  you 
had  forsaken  God,  you  would  be  taking  the  blame 
upon  yourselves  where  it  belongs,  but  when  you 
say  that  God  has  forsaken  you,  you  seem  to  be  lay- 
ing the  blame  of  your  separation  upon  God,  and 
it  is  a  very  grievous  sin  to  lay  upon  God  the  faults 
that  are  our  own."  And  the  missionary  does  not 
remember  ever  to  have  preached  in  this  way  but 
that  his  listener,  if  not  sincerely  convinced  in  his 
heart,  was  at  least  silenced — he  had  nothing  more 
to  say. 

Another  way  which  the  Karehs  have  of  account- 
ing for  their  customs  is  by  reference  to  the  manner 
in  which  their  book  was  lost.  They  say  that,  as 
the  fowls  and  the  pigs  scratched  down  the  book 
and  covered  it  over,  the  wisdom  of  the  book  must 
have  gone  into  them,  and  that  is  the  reason  for 
examining  such  animals  for  omens. 

For  the  rest,  the  religious  beliefs  of  the  Karens 
are  a  jumble  of  superstitions  without  system  or 
consistency.  In  fact  their  ideas  are  so  vague  and 
unrelated  that  they  are  frequently  twitted  by  the 
Burmans  with  having  no  religion  at  all.  What- 
ever they  have  is  pure  animism  or  so-called  spirit- 


RELIGION  OF  THE  KAREN  PEOPLE    39 

worship,  which  means  not  so  much  veneration  of 
the  spirits  as  endeavor  to  placate  them  or  In  some 
.way  escape  their  evil  Influence.  For,  strange  to 
say,  the  Karens  make  their  very  conception  of  the 
benignity  of  God  an  excuse  for  not  worshipping 
him.  They  say,  ''God  Is  good  any  way.  There  Is 
no  need  to  be  afraid  of  him.  But  there  are  any 
number  of  evil  spirits  about,  and  there  Is  no  telling 
how  much  harm  they  may  do."  The  consequence 
Is  that,  having  no  wholesome  fear  of  God,  they  are 
given  over  to  countless  other  fears.  They  live  in 
constant  suspense  lest  they  may  inadvertently  run 
counter  to  some  malicious,  unseen  power.  A  free 
translation  of  a  favorite  Christian  Karen  hymn 
runs  as  follows: — 

The  heathen  have  much  cause  for  fear, 

Nor  is  their  dread  in  vain, 
But  children  of  the  heavenly  king 

With  joy  from  fears  refrain. 

And  nothing  can  more  fittingly  describe  the  differ- 
ence between  the  two  classes  of  people.  A  heathen 
Karen  will  never  start  out  on  a  journey  if  he  hears 
the  call  of  the  barking  deer  or  sees  a  snake  cross 
his  path.  In  times  of  scarcity  he  may  go  many 
miles  to  get  a  basket  of  rice,  and  If,  on  his  return, 
bearing  the  heavy  load  on  his  back,  he  hears  or  sees 
some  unfavorable  omen,  although  he  may  be  but  a 
few  steps  from  the  house,  he  will  pour  out  the  rice 
on  the  ground  and  not  touch  it  again.    Under  every 


40  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

bush  or  tree  there  is  a  spirit  which  may  take  offense. 
There  are  spirits  of  the  earth,  spirits  of  the  air, 
spirits  of  the  mountains,  spirits  of  the  plains,  spirits 
of  the  forests,  spirits  of  the  fields,  spirits  of  the 
rocks,  spirits  of  the  springs,  spirits  throughout  the 
haunted  creation,  all  bent  on  mischief  to  the  un- 
wary Karen  who  may  cross  their  path. 

Yet,  by  a  strange  inconsistency  which  seems  to  be 
characteristic  of  the  human  race  as  a  whole,  al- 
though the  Karens  greatly  dread  these  evil  spirits 
and  think  of  them  as  being  possessed  of  super- 
natural powers,  they  nevertheless  regard  them  as 
being  very  simple  minded  and  easily  imposed  upon, 
just  as  some  people  think  God  may  be  easily 
bought  off  or  hoodwinked.  Sometimes  they  will 
make  an  offering  of  a  small  pig,  but  say  that  it  is 
a  great  boar — and  they  think  the  spirit  will  be- 
lieve them.  On  entering  the  house  of  a  heathen 
Karen  one  may  often  see  a  deserted  wasps'  nest 
hanging  over  the  door.  On  inquiry  he  will  learn 
that  it  is  placed  there  for  the  purpose  of  keeping 
the  evil  spirits  away.  They  will  come  at  nightfall 
intending  to  enter  the  house  and  do  some  mischief, 
but  their  attention  is  attracted  by  the  nest,  and  they 
begin  to  wonder  how  many  cells  there  are  in  it. 
But  it  seems  that  they  are  very  poor  at  counting. 
So  they  will  begin — "One,  two,  three,  four,  six — * 
oh,  I  have  made  a  mistake  and  must  begin  over 
again.  One,  three,  four — oh,  I  have  made  a  mis- 
take and  must  begin  over  again.    One,  two,  three, 


RELIGION  OF  THE  KAREN  PEOPLE    41 

four,  five,  nine — oh,  I  have  made  a  mistake  and 
must  begin  over  again.'*  And  so  they  go  on  and 
on,  making  mistakes  and  having  to  begin  over  and 
over  again,  until  morning  dawns  and  they  have  to 
betake  themselves  to  their  proper  abode. 

Aside  from  these  superstitions  are  many  ideas, 
observances  and  rites  having  no  special  connection 
with  them.  Dreams  are  ascribed  to  the  wandering 
of  the  spirit  or  good  genius  in  sleep.  Consequently 
a  person  must  never  be  awakened  from  sleep  sud- 
denly, lest  his  spirit  may  not  have  time  to  get  back 
into  the  body,  and  he  may  be  taken  ill.  Sometimes 
petitions  are  offered  to  the  spirit  beseeching  it  to 
return  to  Its  home.  A  mother  will  go  to  a  fork  of 
the  path  near  the  house  with  some  tidbit  which  her 
sick  child  was  accustomed  to  relish  in  health  and 
call  plaintively  to  the  spirit : — 

O  Spirit,  wherever  thou  hast  wandered, 
O  Elfin,  wherever  thou  hast  strayed, 
Return  to  thy  home, 
Come  back  to  the  place  of  thine  abode. 

Necklaces  are  worn  not  so  much  for  ornament  as 
to  give  the  wandering  spirit  something  to  take  hold 
of  when  it  returns  to  the  body. 

In  keeping  with  all  these  practices  and  cere- 
monies are  to  be  found  some  religious  and  racial 
conceptions  less  exalted  than  those  suggested  by 
the  noble  tradition  of  the  creation  and  fall  and  the 
sayings  quoted  in  connection  with  it.    One  story  is 


42  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

that  after  Father  God  had  created  men  upon  the 
earth,  he  observed  that  they  did  not  multiply  and 
increase  as  they  should.  Upon  careful  inspection 
he  found  that  a  great  dragon  encircled  the  entire 
horizon,  and  as  men  multiplied  it  would  open  its 
mouth  from  time  to  time  and  swallow  a  large  part 
of  them.  So  Father  God  forged  a  great  spear 
the  head  of  which  weighed  seven  viss  or  about 
twenty-five  pounds,  and  hurled  it  at  the  dragon. 
But  the  dragon  merely  said: 

"What  kind  of  an  insect  is  that  biting  me?" 
Then  Father  God  forged  another  spear  so  vast 
that  when  he  lifted  it,  the  sun  in  the  heaven  was 
obscured  for  seven  days  and  seven  nights.  With 
this  he  slew  the  dragon,  and  from  that  time  on 
men  multiplied  on  the  earth. 

Further  illustrations  of  these  crude  conceptions 
of  God  will  be  given  in  a  later  chapter,  but  in  this 
connection  may  be  mentioned,  in  contrast  with  the 
tradition  of  the  Karen  progenitors  as  being  mighty 
by  reason  of  righteousness,  the  story  of  Taw  Meh 
Pah  which  is  very  popular  among  the  Karens  and 
has  been  handed  down  in  various  forms.  This  Taw 
Meh  Pah  (the  name  means  Sire  of  the  Boar's 
Tush) ,  is  said  to  have  been  the  original  ancestor  of 
the  Karens,  corresponding  to  Abraham  for  the 
Jews.  One  story  Is  to  the  effect  that  when  he  was 
an  old  man,  his  wife  died  and  he  went  to  live  with 
his  sons  and  sons-in-law.  He  found  that  a  wild 
boar  used  to  come  and  destroy  their  crops.    Then 


RELIGION  OF  THE  KAREN  PEOPLE    43 

he  said  to  himself,  **I  haven't  much  longer  to  live 
any  way,  and  a  day  or  two  more  or  less  does  not 
amount  to  much.  I  will  have  a  go  at  the  boar.'* 
So  he  took  his  spear  and  went  out  in  search  of  the 
marauder.  After  a  time  he  succeeded  in  finding 
its  lair  and  a  tremendous  struggle  ensued.  Taw 
Meh  Pah  on  his  part  would  make  a  thrust  at  the 
boar  with  his  spear,  and  the  boar  would  make  a 
dash  at  him.  At  length  the  old  man  was  able  to  de- 
feat the  boar,  but  he  was  so  thoroughly  exhausted 
by  the  struggle  that  he  could  not  take  the  carcase 
home  and  told  his  sons  to  go  out  and  fetch  it.  They 
went  out  and  looked  around,  but  found  nothing, 
and  returning  scolded  the  old  man,  saying,  ''Here, 
old  man,  you  have  lied  to  us.  There  is  no  boar 
there,  and  we  have  had  all  our  trouble  for  noth- 
ing." But  Taw  Meh  Pah  replied  indignandy, 
"You  worthless  fellows,  when  the  boar  was  alive, 
you  dared  not  even  look  at  it,  and  now  that  I  have 
killed  it,  can't  you  so  much  as  find  the  carcase? 
I  will  show  you  where  it  is."  So  they  went  out 
together  to  find  it.  The  reason  the  sons  had  not 
been  able  to  find  it  was  that  it  was  so  large  they 
had  mistaken  it  for  a  mountain.  Finally  with 
their  best  efforts  they  were  able  to  carry  home  one 
of  the  boar's  tushes  only.  Others  say  that  the  boar 
was  a  magical  being,  and  Taw  Meh  Pah  could  not 
kill  it,  but  he  so  far  overcame  It  that  one  of  its 
tushes  dropped  out,  and  this  they  found  and  took 
home.    Taw  Meh  Pah  sat  in  the  house  and  made 


44  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

a  comb  out  of  the  tush.  On  combing  his  hair  with 
it,  he  found  to  his  astonishment  that  he  had  become 
a  young  man  again.  Being  a  young  man,  he  found 
himself  another  wife,  lived  with  her  until  she  grew 
old  and  died,  combed  his  hair  again  and  became  a 
young  man,  found  another  wife  and  lived  with  her 
until  she  grew  old  and  died,  then  combed  his  hair 
again  and  so  on.  How  long  he  kept  up  the  pro- 
cess no  one  knows,  but  it  is  said  that  whenever  a 
wife  died,  he  pulled  out  one  of  her  teeth  to  remem- 
ber her  by,  and  when  last  heard  from,  he  had  three 
bushel  basketfuls  of  the  teeth. 

This  form  of  the  story  has  probably  had  many 
embellishments.  Another  form  which  seems  to  be 
more  ancient,  is  to  the  effect  that  Taw  Meh  Pah's 
wife  was  still  living  when  he  killed  the  boar,  and 
that  not  only  she  but  all  his  descendants  used  the 
comb  and  so  were  no  longer  subject  to  sickness  and 
death.  As  a  result  of  this  they  multiplied  very 
rapidly,  until  the  land  where  they  were  living  could 
no  longer  support  them.  Then  Taw  Meh  Pah 
started  out  in  search  of  a  better  country,  where 
the  soil  should  be  so  rich  that,  instead  of  the  earth 
which  is  dug  out  of  a  hole  not  filling  the  hole  when 
it  is  put  back  in,  as  is  the  case  in  the  present  abode 
of  the  Karen  people,  it  should  fill  the  hole  seven 
times.  In  his  wanderings  he  came  to  a  great  river 
of  flowing  sand.  On  this  side  of  the  river  the 
earth  would  fill  its  hole  four  times,  but  when  he 
reached  the  other  side  of  the  river,  he  found  that 


RELIGION  OF  THE  KAREN  PEOPLE    45 

the  earth  would  fill  its  hole  the  requisite  number 
of  times,  seven.  Then  he  returned  to  take  his 
people  to  that  favored  land,  but  when  they  had 
gone  a  ways,  they  complained  that  they  were  so 
hungry  and  tired  they  must  stop  a  while  to  eat  and 
rest.  So  they  waited  to  cook  a  dinner  of  snails,  as 
has  been  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter  of  this 
book,  and  Taw  Meh  Pah,  wearied  with  waiting, 
went  on  ahead,  promising  to  blaze  a  path  for  them. 
He  cut  down  stalks  of  the  plantain  or  banana  tree 
to  mark  the  way.  This  grows  up  very  quickly,  and 
so  when  the  people,  who  were  not  then  familiar 
with  it,  came  on  later,  they  thought  Taw  Meh  Pah 
must  have  gone  so  far  ahead  that  they  could  never 
catch  up  with  him,  and  they  became  discouraged 
and  stayed  where  they  are  now. 

The  story  thus  far  is  only  curious.  It  seems 
like  a  possible  reminiscence  of  the  early  migrations 
of  the  Karen  race.  Its  crudeness  is  evident.  But 
the  account  goes  onto  say  that  Taw  Meh  Pah  is 
still  watching  over  his  people  from  that  land  of 
seven-fold  richness,  and  when  they  have  sufficiently 
expiated  their  sin  of  disobedience,  he  will  come  for 
them  again,  and  take  them  to  that  better  abode 
where  they  will  live  in  happiness,  free  from  sick- 
ness, old  age  and  death. 

Here  is  an  element  in  the  story  which  is  of  in- 
terest in  the  present  connection  as  showing,  even 
among  their  cruder  conceptions,  a  strong  moral 
consciousness  on  the  part  of  the  Karen  people  and 


46  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

also  a  dim  Messianic  hope.  Some  Christian  Karens 
who  have  made  a  study  of  ancient  Karen  traditions 
with  a  view  to  discovering  in  them  anything  which 
might  indicate  an  early  Scriptual  origin,  go  so  far 
as  to  see  in  Taw  Meh  Pah  a  likeness  to  the  Lion 
of  the  Tribe  of  Judah,  for  to  the  Karens  the  wild 
boar  Instead  of  the  lion  would  be  the  king  of 
beasts,  there  being  no  fiercer  denizen  of  the  forests. 
But,  whatever  one  may  think  of  this  interpretation, 
this  much  is  clear,  that  there  is  nothing  debasing 
either  in  this  story  or  in  the  various  accounts  of 
God  which  are  given.  In  fact  vileness  and  im- 
morality seem  never  to  have  gotten  a  strong  hold 
upon  the  thoughts  and  ideals  of  the  Karen  people, 
and  It  has  to  be  said  that,  notwithstanding  their 
open  and  professed  obedience  to  Satan,  their  prac- 
tices are  not  as  degrading  as  might  be  expected. 
They  do  not  compare  in  vileness,  for  instance,  with 
those  of  the  Hindus.  The  inference  is  not  far 
to  seek,  that  it  is  better,  from  the  standpoint  of 
morals  and  rehgion,  to  follow  Satan  out  and  out 
than  to  hold  a  debased  conception  of  God.  Even 
though  Satan  be  obeyed,  a  sense  of  the  presence 
and  power  of  a  holy  God  may  still  remain  in  the 
background  of  the  consciousness,  but  if  the  thought 
of  God  himself  be  perverted,  there  is  nothing  left 
to  restrain  the  soul. 


IV 


SPECIAL  PREPARATION  FOR  THE  RE- 
CEPTION OF  THE  GOSPEL 

ALTHOUGH  the  Karen  people  forsook 
their  God  and  betook  themselves  to  the 
service  of  Satan,  it  is  satisfying  to  note  that 
he  did  not  forsake  them,  but  followed  them  with 
his  mercy,  even  as  he  de-alt  with  the  Israelites  of 
old.  For,  as  he  sent  prophets  from  time  to  time 
to  the  latter  to  recall  them  to  himself,  so  he  raised 
up  among  the  Karens  those  who,  it  would  seem, 
were  truly  inspired  of  him.  For  it  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  even  in  the  Old  Testament  days  there 
were  thoseTTikenVfekbizedek  and  Jethro,  who, 
although  they  did  not  belong  to  the  chosen  race  of 
Abraham  and  his  descendants,  were  nevertheless 
truly  God's  spokesmen  before  the  world.  And  so 
it  seems  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  these 
Karen  prophets  were  prophets  indeed.  In  no  other 
way  is  it  easy  to  account  for  their  marvellous  and 
uplifting  messages  to  their  people. 

And  as  these  prophets  rose  from  time  to  time, 
they  sought  to  encourage  their  people  in  the  midst 
of  their  oppressions  and  afflictions,  and  they  said, 

47 


48  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

"Children  and  grandchildren,  God  will  yet  save 
the  Karen  nation.  He  will  bring  deliverance  ta 
the  Karen  people."  Sometimes,  as  in  ecstacy,  re- 
minding one  of  the  Hebrew  prophets  of  old,  they 
hurled  defiance  against  their  ancient  foes,  exclaim- 
ing of  Ava,  the  chief  city  of  the  Burmans : — - 

The  city  of  Ava  says  she  is  great, — 
She  is  not  equal  to  the  heel  of  God's  foot; 

The  city  of  Ava  says  she  is  exceedingly  great, — 
She  is  not  equal  to  the  sole  of  God's  foot. 

Some  went  on  to  say  how  deliverance  was  to  come. 
*'Our  younger  brother,  the  white  foreigner,  will 
come  to  us  from  beyond  the  setting  sun,  and  will 
bring  back  to  us  our  lost  book  to  teach  us  the  way 
of  life.  Formerly  it  was  of  leather.  Now  it  will 
be  of  gold  and  silver."  And  some  of  them  went 
on  to  describe  the  appearance  of  the  white  for- 
eigner, seeming  to  see  him  in  vision,  and  they  said, 
"Our  younger  brother,-  the  white  foreigner,  when 
he  comes  to  us,  will  be  clothed  in  garments  of  shin- 
ing black  and  shining  white."  When  it  is  remem- 
bered that  the  Karens  seldom  wear  black  in  their 
garments  and,  although  they  do  wear  white,  it 
could  never  by  any  stretch  of  the  imagination  be 
thought  of  as  a  "shining"  white,  but  is  always  a 
very  dingy,  not  to  say  a  dirty,  white,  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  language  becomes  evident.  Some  went 
on  to  say  further  that  this  younger  brother  would 
come  wearing  a  hat  like  a  snaiFs  shell.    And  to 


THE  RECEPTION  OF  THE  GOSPEL      49 

this  day  the  Karen  will  occasionally  call  the  atten- 
tion of  the  missionary  to  the  hats  which  are  worn 
by  white  people  in  that  country,  made  of  pith  and 
cork,  exceedingly  light  and  affording  an  excellent 
protection  against  the  sun,  but  with  their  inverted- 
chopping-bowl  appearance  bearing  indeed  a  cer- 
tain resemblance  to  a  snail's  shell. 

Incredible  as  it  may  seem  to  some,  the  prophe- 
cies which  have  been  cited  appear  to  have  been 
universally  known  among  the  Karens  and  to  have 
long  antedated  the  coming  of  the  missionary.  The 
writer  has  been  assured  of  this  by  members  of  his 
own  mission  who  have  told  him  that  their  own 
ancestors  were  priests  and  uttered  these  prophecies 
from  time  to  time  with  solemn  ceremony.  Certain 
it  is  that  among  all  Karens,  heathen  as  well  as 
Christian^jhere  is  a  most  kindly  attitude  towards 
the  white  man,  aTtowards  a  younger  brother.  This 
can  perhaps  not  be  better  illustrated  than  by  nar- 
rating one  or  two  stories  which  are  current  among 
them. 

One,  which  is  evidently  intended  to  account  for 
the  superiority  of  other  races  over  the  Karens,  re- 
lates that  once  on  a  time  Father  God  was  taken 
with  a  mortal  illness  and  sent  for  his  three  sons,  the 
Karen  Brother,  the  Burmese  brother,  and  the  white 
brother.  The  white  brother  dropped  his  work  and 
went  at  once,  and  Father  God  was  able  to  impart 
to  him  all  his  wisdom,  so  that  to  this  day  the  white 
brother  is  able  to  build  ships  and  do  other  wonder- 


50  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

ful  things  like  unto  God  himself.  The  Burmese 
brother  delayed  for  a  time,  and  Father  God  was 
able  to  impart  to  him  less  wisdom.  The  Karen 
brother  was  busy  in  the  field  and  did  not  get  to 
Father  God's  bedside  until  after  Father  God  had 
died,  in  fact  not  until  after  the  body  had  been 
burned  according  to  the  custom  of  funerals  in  that 
country.  There  remained  only  a  fragment  of  the 
bamboo  matting  in  which  Father  God  had  been 
wrapped,  and  so  to  this  day  the  poor  Karen  has 
no  skill  except  to  weave  bamboo  mats.  But  the 
Karen  is  not  without  hope,  for  the  account  goes  on 
to  say  that  the  younger  brother  will  come  some 
day  and  impart  his  wisdom  to  the  Karen  brother. 

Another  story  is  that  one  day  a  Karen  took  his 
basket  on  his  back  and  wandered  away  into  a  far 
country.  After  many  days,  he  met  a  white  brother 
and  asked  him  where  he  was  going. 

"I  am  going  to  worship  Father  God,"  said  the 
white  brother. 

"I  would  like  to  go,  too,''  said  the  Karen. 

**Very  well,  come  along,"  said  the  white  brother, 
and  the  two  went  on  together.  While  they  jour- 
neyed, the  white  brother  told  the  Karen  that  they 
might  not  find  Father  God  awake. 

"He  sleeps  seven  years,  and  is  awake  seven 
years,"  said  the  white  brother,  "and  I  really  do 
not  know  whether  it  is  day  or  night  with  him 
now."  After  a  time,  they  came  to  a  great  wall  of 
rock,  and  the  white  brother  lifting  his  staff  smote 


THE  RECEPTION  OF  THE  GOSPEL   51 

it,  and  a  portal  opened  in  the  rock  through  which 
the  two  went  together.  Arrived  at  Father  God's 
abode  they  found  that,  surely  enough.  Father  God 
was  asleep.  But  the  white  brother,  not  to  be  de- 
terred, seized  an  enormous  rattan  of  the  kind  which 
is  used  for  rafting  logs  on  the  rivers,  and  ran  it 
vigorously  up  and  down  in  Father  God's  nostrils 
for  the  purpose  of  waking  him  up.  Finding  his 
efforts  in  vain,  he  mounted  his  horse  and  galloped 
up  and  down  in  Father  God's  nostrils  until  Father 
God  sneezed  and  woke  up.  Then  Father  God 
turned  to  the  white  brother,  and  inquired  why  he 
had  wakened  him  so  rudely. 

*'Why,"  said  the  white  brother,  "the  Karen 
brother  has  come  and  I  thought  you  would  like  to 
see  him." 

*^Ohrts-tlmt-so  ?"  said  Father  God,  "where  is 
he?"  Then  the  Karen  came  forward  and  Father 
God  held  a  long  conversation  with  him,  asking  all 
about  his  family  and  surroundings  and  living  con- 
ditions.    Finally  Father  God  asked: 

"What  is  that  you  have  on  your  back?'* 

"My  basket,"  the  Karen  replied. 

"Let  me  see  it,"  said  Father  God,  and  Father 
God  took  the  basket  and  filled  it  with  a  vast  amount 
of  treasure,  enough  to  enrich  an  entire  nation. 

"Now,"  said  Father  God,  putting  on  the  lid 
tightly,  "you  must  not  take  off  this  lid  until  you 
get  home,"  and  so  saying  dismissed  the  Karen 
brother  with  his  blessing.    On  the  way  home  the 


52  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

Karen  brother  was  met  by  the  Burman  brother 
and  asked  what  he  had  in  his  basket. 

"I  do  not  know,"  said  the  Karen  brother,  *'for 
Father  God  filled  the  basket  and  told  me  I  must 
not  open  it  until  I  got  home." 

"But  I  want  to  see,"  said  the  Burman  brother. 

"I  will  not  let  you,"  replied  the  Karen  brother. 

"But  I  will,"  said  the  Burman  brother,  there- 
upon seizing  the  basket  by  force  and  removing  the 
lid.  He  took  out  the  contents  of  the  basket,  but 
was  not  able  to  put  them  back  again,  and  so  the 
Karen  brother  was  obliged  to  return  to  his  home 
as  poor  as  when  he  left.  But  the  Karens  say  that 
Father  God  has  promised  to  give  them  another 
basket,  and  some  are  still  looking  for  it. 

The  Karens  have  always  been  loyal  to  the  white 
man's  government,  and  when  during  the  third  Bur- 
mese war  in  1886  to  1888,  the  British  forces  were 
engaged  in  Upper  or  Northern  Burma  and  some 
disaffected  persons  attempted  to  start  insurrec- 
tions in  Lower  Burma  and  carried  on  a  species  of 
guerilla  warfare,  it  was  the  Karens,  mostly  Chris- 
ten Karens,  who  pursued  them  in  little  bands  and 
enabled  the  British  government  to  keep  the  situa- 
tion under  control.  And  when  at  last  the  Bur- 
mese kingdom  was  brought  to  an  end  by  the  annex- 
ation of  its  territories  by  the  British  and  the  Bur- 
mese king  was  interned  in  one  of  the  cities  of 
India  as  a  prisoner  of  state,  none  rejoiced  more 
than  did  they. 


THE  RECEPTION  OF  THE  GOSPEL      53 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  add  that,  while  the 
Karens  were  prepared,  as  indicated  above,  in  a 
most  remarkable  degree  to  receive  the  bible  at  the 
hands  of  their  younger  brother,  the  white  for- 
eigner, they  were  at  the  same  time  prevented  from 
accepting  any  other  book.  The  Burmese  had  an 
extensive  literature,  but  these  prophecies  contained 
a  special  warning  not  to  receive  the  Bedegat  or 
sacred  book  of  the  Buddhists,  scratched  with  a 
pointed  stylus  on  palm  leaf. 

"Not  these  the  letters  given  before, 
Those  God  will  yet  again  restore, 
These  letters  we  must  not  receive, 
The  golden  book  alone  believe." 

And~whenrat-kstjhe  missionary  came  with  the 
book,  some  of  the  Karens  were  interested  to  note 
the  gilt  edges  of  some  of  the  bibles  and  the  leaves 
white  like  silver,  while  more  and  more  they  under- 
stood that  the  description  given  by  their  prophets 
applied  to  the  preciousness  of  the  teachings  con- 
tained, as  of  silver  and  of  gold. 

So  it  came  about  that  when  the  missionary  found 
these  people,  they  were  fairly  standing  on  the  tip- 
toe of  expectation  looking  eagerly  for  his  coming. 


EARLY  KAREN  APOSTLES 

ONE  can  understand  how  In  the  circumstances 
the  early  triumphs  of  the  gospel  among  the 
Karen  people  were  very  marked  indeed, 
especially  when  it  is  added  that,  besides  what  he 
had  already  done  for  them,  God  inspired  some  of 
the  earliest  disciples  among  them  with  truly  apos- 
tolic fervor.  The  very  first  convert,  Koh  Thah 
Byu  (last  syllable  pronounced  Bew  to  rhyme  with 
Jew),  was  such  a  man.  At  the  outset,  he  was  a 
most  unpromising  person.  Little  is  known  of  his 
early  life.  He  was  born  about  the  year  1778  at 
a  village  called  Ootwan  some  four  days'  journey 
or  eighty  miles  north  of  Bassein.  He  resided  with 
his  parents  until  he  was  about  fifteen  years  of  age, 
then  wandered  forth  to  become  a  highway  robber 
ajid  bandit.  It  is  supposed  from  his  own  confes- 
slqnthat  he  was' responsible,  either  as  principal  or 
accessory,  for  the  death  of  no  fewer  than  thirty 
persons. 

"^oon  after  the  first  Burmese  war,  1 822-1824, 
in  which  the  Tenasserim  province  was  ceded  to  the 
British,  he  visited  Rangoon.  There  he  contracted 
a  trifling  debt,  some  $5  or  $6  in  the  currency  of 

54 


EARLY  KAREN  APOSTLES  55 

the  day,  and,  not  being  able  to  pay  it,  was  seized 
by  his  creditor,  in  accordance  with  Burmese  law, 
and  was  made  his  slave.  Shortly  after,  Maung 
Shway  Bay,  one  of  Dr.  Judson's  Burmese  converts, 
found  the  Karen  man,  paid  his  debt,  thus  releasing 
him  from  slavery,  and  brought  him  to  Dr.  Judson. 
The  missionary  at  once  began  instructing  him  in 
the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  but  he  was 
able  to  communicate  with  him  through  the  medium 
of  the  Burmese  language  only  which  the  poor 
Karen  understood  indifferently.  In  any  case  the 
latter  seems  at  that  time,  to  have  been  a  rather 
stupid  fellow — at  least  he  is  so  characterized  in 
Dr.  Judson's  journal.  Very  likely  he  was  stupid 
enough,  but^eing  a  Karen,  it  is  not  improbable 
that  he  appearedrta^e  rather  more  stupid  than  he 
really  was,  for  it  is  characteristic  of  the  race  for 
a  Karen  not  to  appear  at  his  full  value.  Moreover 
he  had  a  most  terrible  temper — **diabolical"  is  the 
word  by  which  Dr.  Judson  who  was  a  very  mild 
man  and  did  not  use  stronger  language  than  was 
necessary,  described  it.  So  it  seemed  a  long  time 
before  the  gospel  made  any  impression  on  the  man, 
but  at  length  it  got  a  grip  upon  him  and  performed 
such  a  miracle  of  grace  as  is  sometimes  witnessed 
in  more  favored  lands,  when  the  gospel  gets  a  grip 
on  a  man  and  changes  him  through  and  through. 
It  changed  Koh  Thah  Byu  through  and  through, 
took  out  of  him  his  heart  of  stone  and  gave  him 
a  heart  of  flesh;  removed  from  him  his  terrible 


56  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

temper  so  that  he  became  as  meek  as  a  child,  and 
endowed  him  with  a  deep  insight  into  the  things 
of  God. 

For  a  time  the  little  Burman  church  that  had 
been  gathered  was  slow  to  admit  this  member  of  a 
despised  race  into  its  fellowship,  but  at  length, 
seeing  proofs  of  a  change  of  heart  which  could  not 
be  gainsaid,  it  consented,  and  appointed  a  day  for 
the  baptism.  But  before  the  time  arrived  Koh 
Thah  Byu  decided  to  accompany  Rev.  George 
Dana  Boardman  to  Tavoy.  At  that  place  he  was 
accordingly  baptized,  May  i6,  1828,  the  first  con- 
vert from  among  his  people. 

^oh  Thah  Byu  soon  displayed  great  zeal  in 
preaching  the  gospel  to  his  own  race,  and  his  work 
was  attended  with  remarkable  success.  And  as 
Paul  sought  to  preach  the  gospel  from  Jerusalem 
round  about  unto  Illyricum  where  the  blessed 
Name  had  not  so  much  as  been  mentioned,  so  this 
man  beginning  at  Tavoy  and  Mergui  on  the  south 
went  preaching  the  word  through  Maulmein  and 
Rangoon  and  Pegu  and  Bassein  until  he  found  his 
grave  on  the  extreme  Arakanese  coast.  In  all  these 
fields  he  was  the  pioneer.  At  first  he  confined  his 
labors  to  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Tavoy, 
visiting  Karen  villages  only  one  or  two  days'  jour- 
ney away.  Then  he  made  a  tour  across  the  moun- 
tains on  the  east  to  Tshiekku,  where  he  found  a 
company  of  Karens  ignorantly  venerating  a  book 
which  some  devout  Englishman  had  given  to  one 


EARLY  KAREN  APOSTLES  57 

of  their  number,  and  which  afterward  proved  to  be 
a  copy  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  published 
at  Oxford.  At  his  suggestion,  this  book,  which 
the  people,  of  course,  could  not  read,  but  never- 
theless kept  carefully  wrapped  in  many  coverings, 
was  brought  to  Tavoy  to  Mr.  Boardman,  and  on 
its  real  character  being  explained  to  them,  they  at 
once  ceased  to  worship  it,  and  accepted  the  gospel. 
Koh  Thah  Byu  afterwards  visited  their  village 
several  times  and  taught  school  there  one  or  two 
rainy  seasons. 

But  ever  as  he  labored  this  devoted  follower  of 
the  Lord  found  his  heart  enlarged  within  him.  He 
was  constantly  devising  plans  for  the  extension  of 
the  work.  Once  he^  made  an  important  tour  to 
Mergui.  Later  he  undertook  a  journey  to  Siam 
that  he  might  preach  the  gospel  to  the  Karens 
there,  but  he  was  turned  back  by  the  Siamese  of- 
ficials on  the  border  and  not  permitted  to  proceed. 
During  the  brief  but  remarkable  missionary  career 
of  the  consecrated  Mr.  Boardman  he  accompanied 
the  latter  on  his  tours,  and  it  is  evidence  of  the 
esteem  in  which  he  was  already  held  that,  after  the 
pathetic,  yet  glorious  death  of  that  godly  man  as  he 
was  being  borne  home  in  a  litter  after  witnessing 
the  baptism  of  thirty-four  Karens,  Koh  Thah  Byu 
had  resting  on  him  for  a  time  the  entire  care  of  the 
church  and  the  instruction  of  inquirers.  Scarcely 
was  he  freed  from  this  obligation,  however,  when 
he  went  to  Maulmein,  and  began  with  equal  vigor 


58  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

the  work  of  the  ministry  there.     In  the  spring  of 
1833,  he  extended  his  labors  to  Rangoon  and  the 
Pegu  district,  achieving  there,  perhaps,  his  grand- 
est successes.     He  visited  many  villages,  and  won 
many  converts  to  Christ.    Nor  was  this  work  pros- 
ecuted without  meeting  opposition.     Rangoon  was 
still  under  the  dominion  of  the  Burmans.     The 
latter  determined  to  use  their  power  for  the  sup- 
pression of  the  new  religion.     The  Karens  were 
forbidden  to  learn  to  read,  and  at  a  somewhat  later 
period  some  actually  suffered  martyrdom  for  the 
cause  of  Christ.    But  Koh  Thah  Byu  was  fearless 
in  his  labors,  and  notwithstanding  persecution,  hun- 
dreds of  Karens  boldly  took  their  stand  for  Christ. 
But  Koh  Thah  Byu  was  already  beginning  to 
feel  the  effects  of  old  age.     His  arduous  and  un- 
remitting labors,  the  privations  and  hardships  he 
endured,  the  long  fatiguing  journeys  he  made,  al- 
ways on  foot  and  often  through  pouring  rains  and 
swollen  streams,  brought  upon  him  serious  rheu- 
matic trouble.     When  he  heard  that  Mr.  Abbott 
was  to  go  to  Arakan,  a  British  territory  on  the 
west,  in  the  hope  of  reaching  the  Karens  of  Bas- 
seln  from  that  point,  he  was  ready  to  accompany 
him,  and  actually  took  up  labor  there  with  renewed 
zeal,  but  his  disease  was  so  far  advanced  that  he 
could  accomplish  but  little.     On  the  9th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1840,  he  went  to  his  reward.     The  rec- 
ords show  that  at  that  time  there  were  about  1,270 
xnembers  of  the  churches^  most  of  whom,  it  is 


EAULY  KAREN  APOSTLES  59 

Said,    had  been   converted   under  his   preaching. 

Koh  Thah  Byu  was  a  man  of  very  great  power, 
and,  as  has  been  said,  of  deep  insight  into  the  things 
of  God.  Not  that  he  ever  became  a  broadly 
learned  man,  after  the  modern  acceptation  of  the 
term,  but  when  one  thinks  of  much  of  the  learning 
of  these  days  and  of  the  philosophy  falsely  so 
called,  one  is  reminded  of  the  saying  of  the  great 
American  sage,  Josh  Billings,  "It  Is  better  not  to 
know  so  much  than  to  know  so  many  things  that 
aint  so.-'*  Koh  Thah  Byu  never  knew  a  great  many 
things  that  are  not  so,  but  he  knew  a  few  verities 
with ^aUrthenntensk^LXLL his  nature,  and  his  preach- 
ing has  been  described  as  being  like  the  boring  of 
an  augur,  round  and  round  and  round  on  a  few 
points  until  he  had  drilled  them  into  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  his  hearers.  He  probably  could  not 
have  made  a  successful  pastor,  for  his  work  was 
distinctly  evangelistic.  This  he  did  remarkably 
well,  and  to  this  day  Is  known  as  The  Karen 
Apostle. 

Not  only  in  the  person  of  Koh  Thah  Byu,  but 
in  the  persons  of  others  as  well,  God  raised  up 
at  the  very  beginning  in  several  of  the  missions  to 
the  Karens,  men  of  like  apostolic  fervor.  Such 
were  Saw  Tah  Ree  and  Saw  Do  Shweg- 

yln.  Rev._Nojroiaa-Ha.rris  began  the  work  there 
in  the  year  1853,.  reaching  the  town  of  Shwegyin 
one  Saturday  afternoon.  The  next  morning  he 
gathered  the  few  disciples  who  had  come  with  him 


60  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

under  an  old  forsaken  shed  and  preached  to  them 
the  gospel,  taking  for  his  text  those  wonderful 
words,  "Behold,  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world."  While  he  was 
preaching,  a  Karen  man  passing  by  and  attracted 
by  the  strange  sight,  stopped  to  listen.  He  had 
been  familiar  from  childhood  up  with  the  traditions 
of  his  people  and  with  their  expectation  of  the 
coming  of  the  younger  brother  who  should  bring  to 
them  the  word  of  life.  But  he  had  wearied  of 
watching  for  the  coming  of  the  brother,  and  finding 
nothing  in  the  practices  of  his  people  to  satisfy  the 
longings  of  his  heart,  had  turned  to  Buddhism.  He 
was  among  the  earliest  to  go  to  the  pagoda  to 
worship  in  the  morning,  always  taking  with  him 
his  offering,  and  he  was  among  the  most  attentive 
listeners  to  the  teachings  of  the  pongyees  or  monks. 
Yet  he  found  ho  satisfaction  in  it  all.  But  when 
he  heard  the  white  man  speaking  in  his  own  tongue 
and  saw  him  reading  from  a  book,  he  believed  at 
once,  recognized  in  the  white  man  the  younger 
brother,  and  in  the  book  the  long-lost  book  of  his 
people,  and  accepted  the  teachings  he  heard  as 
very  manna  to  his  soul.  Stealing  away  unobserved 
he  took  his  family  and  friends,  and  in  a  few  days 
returned  bringing  them  with  him,  and  seven  weeks 
from  that  first  Lord's  Day,  the  first  church  of 
Shwegym  was.oj-^anized  with  eight  members  who 
had  that  day  been  baptized.  Saw  Tah  Ree  himself 
became  an  evangelist  of  power  among  his  people. 


EARLY  KAREN  APOSTLES  61 

Saw  Doo  Moo  also  was  prepared  by  God  In  a 
remarkable  manner  for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 
among  his  people.  Living  some  distance  to  the 
north  of  Shwegyin,  he  rose  one  morning  with  his 
wife  and  children  In  their  accustomed  health,  but 
at  sundown  that  day  the  wife  and  all  the  children 
except  a  nursing  infant  were  dead,  having  been 
stricken  down  by  that  dreadful  scourge,  the  chol- 
era. Distracted  with  grief,  he  left  the  little  one 
in  the  care  of  a  friendly  Burmese  woman,  and  then 
wandered  forth  not  caring  whither  he  went.  For 
orientals  are  not  without  feeling,  as  Is  too  often 
supposedTThe^THoliof  indeed  show  their  emotions 
on  the  surface  as  much  as  do  the  people  of  the 
west.  A  congregation  will  sit  and  look  at  the 
preacher  with  about  as  much  expression  on  their 
faces — ^to  use  their  own  description — as  on  so 
many  toadstools;  but  when  the  preacher  hears 
them  refer  to  his  sermon  a  year  or,  perhaps,  five  or 
ten  years  after,  he  feels  that  it  has  somehow  gotten 
a  hold  upon  them.  Yes,  the  oriental  has  as  deep 
feelings  as  have  others,  and  so  Saw  Doo  Moo  left 
the  nursing  infant  and  wandered  forth  in  the  grief 
and  anguish  of  his  heart  not  caring  whither  he 
went;  rose  early  in  the  morning  and  went  on  all 
day  long,  stopping  wherever  night  overtook  him, 
rose  again  early  the  next  day,  and  wandered  on, 
week  after  week,  until  at  last  he  was  found  by 
some  Christian  Karens  down  near  Mergui,  hun- 
dreds of  miles  away  from  his  home.     He  told 


62  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

them  the  story  of  his  grief,  and  they  on  their  part 
told  him  of  the  balm  in  Gilead.  He  believed. 
His  wounded  heart  was  healed.  He  returned  as 
far  as  Maulmein,  entered  the  little  school  which 
the  missionaries  had  prepared  for  the  training  of 
evangehsts,  learned  to  read,  studied  the  Scriptures, 
and  when  Mr.  Harris  went  to  Shwegyin  to  found 
the  mission  there,  or  soon  after,  he  was  ready  to 
go  with  him,  and  largely  through  the  preaching  of 
these  two  men,  Saw  Tah  Ree  and  Saw  Doo  Moo, 
during  the  first  year  of  Mr.  Harris's  ministry  on 
that  field,  there  were  no  fewer  than  five  hundred 
and  seventy-seven  converts. 

Saw  Quah  Lah  was  an  evangelist  who  In  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Toungoo  mission  met  with  even 
greater  success.  It  is  said  that  through  his  efforts 
nearly  two  thousand  converts  were  gathered  into 
the  churches.  He  did  a  great  work,  and  for  a 
time  was  highly  respected.  Later  he  fell  into  sin, 
and  had  to  be  excluded  from  the  fellowship  of  the 
church.  He  made  full  and  humble  confession  and 
gave  evidence  of  the  deepest  penitence.  He  was 
restored  to  the  fellowship  of  the  church,  but  was 
not  permitted  to  partake  again  in  the  work  of  the 
ministry.  The  whole  affair  was  a  cause  of  great 
grief  to  the  disciples  but  It  had  a  partially  compen- 
sating advantage,  for  It  taught  the  new  converts 
that  the  moral  demands  of  the  Christian  religion 
were  high  and  not  to  be  lightly  tampered  with. 


VI 


GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 
WORK 

IT  IS  difficult  to  transport  oneself  in  imagina- 
tion to  the  early  beginnings  of  the  work  among 
ihe^Karen^eople,  and  to  conceive  of  the  im- 
mense enthusiasnTwhiHTpre vailed  on  the  part  of 
both  the  missionaries  and  the  converts.  At  first 
the  missionaries  attempted  to  reach  the  Karens 
through  the  medium  of  the  Burmese  language,  and 
they  have  been  subjected  to  considerable  criticism 
because  they  did  not  continue  to  do  so.  Some  of 
the  Karens,  especially  of  the  men,  already  under- 
stood Burmese,  and  it  has  been  thought  by  many 
that,  if  the  missionaries  had  disregarded  the  Karen 
language,  which  was  the  dialect  of  a  comparatively 
insignificant  people,  this  would  have  tended  greatly 
to  the  unification  and  strengthening  of  the  entire 
work  in  Burma.  Aside  from  the  fact  that  any 
people  is  most  effectively  approached  through  its 
own  tongue,  it  would  probably  have  been  quite 
practicable  to  continue  the  work  among  the  Karens 
through  the  Burmese  language.  Even  to  this  day, 
in  the  missions  to  the  Brecks  and  Bwehs  and  other 

63 


64  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

small  Karen  tribes  of  the  Toungoo  field,  no  at- 
tempt is  being  made  to  translate  the  Scriptures  into 
the  different  dialects  of  the  people.  Religious  work 
among  them  is  carried  on  through  the  medium  of 
the  Sgaw  dialect  of  the  Karen  language,  which  is 
practically  a  foreign  language  to  many  of  them. 
Sgaw  is  taught  in  the  schools,  but  among  the 
churches  it  is  customary  for  the  pastors  to  read  the 
Scriptures  in  Sgaw  and  then  preach  and  pray  in 
the  language  of  their  people.  Similarly,  it  would 
probably  have  been  quite  possible  for  the  mission- 
aries to  teach  Burmese  in  their  schools,  content 
themselves  with  the  excellent  translation  which  Dr. 
Judson  had  made  of  the  bible  into  that  tongue,  and 
let  the  native  pastors  put  into  the  vernacular  from 
time  to  time  whatever  was  necessary  for  the  edifi- 
cation of  the  more  ignorant  of  their  people. 

This,  apparently,  is  precisely  what  the  mission- 
aries started  out  to  do;  but  special  circumstances 
arose  which  seemed  to  make  it  imperative  for  them 
to  pursue  a  different  course.  As  has  been  said, 
Koh  Thah  Byu  was  baptized  May  1 6,  1828.  It 
was  not  until  June,  1831,  that  Rev.  Jonathan 
Wade,  who  had  been  in  the  country  since  1823, 
went  from  Maulmein  on  a  preaching  tour  to  the 
Karen  village  of  Tah  Kreh.  He  was  accompanied 
by  an  interpreter  and  had  evidently  made  no  at- 
tempt, up  to  that  time,  to  acquire  the  Karen  lan- 
guage. At  the  sight  of  the  white  stranger  the 
villagers,  who  supposed  that  he  was  a  government 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  WORK        65 

official  of  some  sort,  all  took  to  their  heels  and 
fled  to  the  surrounding  jungle.  After  he  and  the 
interpreter  had  waited  patiently  for  quite  a  long 
time,  an  old  man  appeared,  and  the  interpreter 
called  to  him,  saying  that  they  were  not  govern- 
ment officials  but  preachers  who  had  come  to  tell 
them  of  the  new  religion.  After  considerable  per- 
suasion he  succeeded  in  allaying  the  old  man's  fears 
and  getting  him  to  call  the  other  villagers  back  to 
their  homes.  Then  all  the  people  gathered  around 
and  listened-to  the  message  which  Mr.  Wade  had 
to  bring.  But  all  unexpectedly  an  old  man  from 
the  company  spoke  up  and  asked  Mr.  Wade  for 
the  book.  At  first  Mr.  Wade  did  not  understand 
what  the  man  meant,  and  asked  him  what  book  he 
wanted. 

**The  Karen  book,"  said  the  man. 

*'But  the  Karens  have  never  had  a  book,"  said 
Mr.  Wade,  "and  how  can  I  give  you  one  ? 

*'Not  so,  O  Teacher,"  replied  the  Karen  man, 
proceeding  to  tell  the  story  of  the  lost  book  as  it 
has  already  been  rehearsed  in  these  pages.  *'We 
Karens  once  had  a  book  of  leather,  but  we  lost  it, 
and jhe  elders  tell  us  that  when  the  white  man 
comes  he  will  bring  us  our  lost  book,  and  then  we 
shall  prosper.  Now  the  white  man  has  come,  but 
where  is  our  book?  If  you  bring  us  our  book,  we 
will  welcome  you.  If  not,  you  must  go  back  and 
fetch  it."  This  insistent  demand  on  the  part  of 
the  Karen  people  in  accordance  with  their  tradi- 


66  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

tions  seemed  to  make  It  necessary  that  the  mission- 
aries, if  they  would  do  a  really  effective  work 
among  them,  should  give  them  the  bible  in  their 
own  vernacular.  This  it  was  which  decided  them 
to  reduce  the  Karen  language  to  writing.  Mr. 
Wade  is  said  to  have  accomplished  this  feat  before 
he  himself  had  learned  to  speak  it.  Those  who 
are  familiar  with  its  ear-teasing  consonants  and 
complicated  system  of  vowel  tones  wonder  how  he 
did  it.  It  stands  today  as  a  monument  to  his 
genius.  He  adapted  the  Burmese  alphabet  to  the 
expression  of  Karen  sounds,  and  produced  a  sys- 
tem of  writing  which  is  purely  phonetic.  Some 
have  wondered  that  he  did  not  adapt  the  Roman 
alphabet  instead,  but  this  is  easily  explained.  Some 
Karen  sounds  defy  expression  with  Roman  letters, 
to  begin  with,  and  a  Karen  who  had  already  learned 
to  read  Burmese  could  readily  pass  from  that  to 
Karen,  while  on  the  other  hand,  if  he  learned  first 
to  read  his  own  language,  he  could  easily  pick  up 
the  Burmese;  and  to  the  average  Karen,  Burmese 
must,  for  many  generations,  be  of  much  more  value 
than  English. 

The  language  vehicle  having  been  determined 
upon,  the  next  thing  in  order  was  to  produce  a 
literature.  Among  the  first  books  to  be  translated 
was,  of  course,  the  bible.  This  great  task  was 
undertaken  by  Dr.  Mason,  and  an  excellent  ver- 
sion from  the  original  tongues  was  produced.  An 
anthology  worthy  to  grace  any  language  was  pre- 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  WORK        67 

pared,  over  two  hundred  hymns,  remarkably  true 
to  the  idiom  of  the  language  and  to  the  genius  of 
the  Karen  people,  issuing  from  the  pen  of  the  first 
Mrs.  Vinton  alone.  A  Karen  who  seems  to  have 
had  an  extraordinarily  comprehensive  knowledge 
of  his  own  language,  people  andcustoms,  was  found, 
and,  although  the  Karen  is  thought  of  as  having  a 
rather  meager  vocabulary,  yet  with  his  assistance 
and  at  his  dictation,  a  compendium  of  Karen  terms 
and  idea&jg?^  compiled  in  five  thick  volumes,  called 
The  Karen  Thesaurus,  which  has  not  been  sur- 
passed to  this  day  and  deserves  to  rank  almost  as 
an  encyclopedia.  Spelling  books  were  prepared, 
and  arithmetics,  geographies,  astronomies  and 
other  books  in  great  number.  Schools  were  almost 
from  the  beginning  a  necessity,  demanded  by  the 
people  themselves,  for  as  soon  as  a  Karen  adopts 
the  Christian  religion,  he  wants  two  things,  first, 
to  acquire  knowledge,  second,  to  improve  his  phys- 
ical surroundings.  Children  and  adults  sat  on  the 
same  forms  and  studied  out  of  the  same  book  un- 
ashamed. To  this  day,  they  seem  almost  to  think 
that  to  be  able  to  read  is  part  of  being  a  Christian, 
for  seldom  does  a  Karen  turn  to  the  Christian  re- 
ligion but  in  some  way  he  manages  to  acquire  at 
least  a  knowledge  of  the  alphabet.  Schools  for 
primary  instruction  were  early  started  at  Maul- 
mein  and  Tavoy,  to  be  followed  later  by  schools 
of  higher  grade  as  the  need  arose.  Very  soon  the 
necessity  for  the  special  training  of  evangelists  and 


68  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

pastors  being  felt,  in  1845  R^v.  J.  G.  BInney,  D. 
D.,  opened  at  Maulmein  the  Theological  Seminary 
which  was  subsequently  removed  to  Rangoon,  and 
is  now  located  at  Insein,  doing  an  important  work. 

From  the  account  of  Koh  Thah  Byu,  it  will  be 
seen  that  for  many  years  missionary  operations 
among  the  Karens  were  of  necessity  largely  con- 
fined to  the  provinces  which  were  under  British 
rule.  Much  was  secretly  accomplished  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Rangoon,  to  be  sure,  and  in  the 
year  i  S^-Oj^ReYiu  E.  L.  Abbott  opened  a  very  suc- 
cessful mission  at  Sandoway  for  the  purpose  of 
reaching  the  Karen  refugees  who  fled  from  the 
Bassein  district  to  escape  Burmese  oppression;  but 
little  else  could  be  accomplished.  In  1852,  how- 
ever, a  war  broke  out  between  the  Burmans  and 
the  British,  as  a  result  of  which  a  large  portion  of 
the  former  Burmese  kingdom,  including  practically 
all  the  territory  inhabited  by  Karens,  was  ceded  to 
the  British. 

Very  soon  after  the  opening  of  hostilities,  the 
city  of  Rangoon  was  taken,  and  at  once  Rev.  J.  H. 
Vinton — the  illustrious  head  of  an  illustrious  fam- 
ily of  which  no  fewer  than  nine  members  have  seen 
service  on  the  foreign  field — hastened  to  the  city 
that  he  might  minister  to  the  needs  of  the  destitute 
and  suffering  Karens.  He  found  that  every  Karen 
village  within  fifty  miles  had  been  destroyed,  and 
that  fivt  thousand  Karen  refugees  were  living  In 
carts  and  under  trees  within  seven  miles  of  the 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  WORK        69 

city.  Their  standing  crops  were  burned,  and  their 
stores  of  rice  were  either  seized  or  destroyed.  The 
Burmans,  supposing  the  Karens  to  be  secret  friends 
of  the  British  invaders,  had  tortured  and  killed 
men,  women  and  children  with  ingenious  brutality 
and  unspeakable  cruelty.  Two  native  preachers 
had  been  crucified  besides  having  sharp  pointed 
stakes  driven  down  their  throats.  Some  of  the 
victims^mdJbeeiL slowly  cut  to  pieces  joint  by  joint, 
or  limb  by  limb,  through  successive  days,  while 
others  had  been  fastened  to  crosses  and  then  set 
adrift  upon  rafts  that  their  death  agonies  might  be 
aggravated  by  the  sight  of  cooling  water.  It  was 
discovered  that  many  of  the  Karen  disciples  had 
been  driven  at  the  point  of  the  spear  into  the  front 
ranks  of  the  Burmese  army  to  fight  the  British. 
After  they  had  fallen,  pierced  by  the  bullets  of 
those  whom  in  their  hearts  they  were  welcoming, 
portions  of  the  Scriptures  were  found  concealed 
on  their  persons. 

With  the  close  of  the  war  came  greatly  enlarged 
opportunities  for  work  among  the  Karens,  oppor- 
tunities of  which  the  missionaries  were  the  better 
able  to  avail  themselves  because  of  the  many  years 
of  waiting  and  preparation.  Pentecostal  blessings 
attended  Mr.  Vinton's  efforts  at  Rangoon.  The 
mission  at  Sandoway,  already  prosperous,  was  re- 
moved to  Bassein  and  there  received  an  impetus 
which  placed  it  easily  in  the  lead  of  the  missions 
to  the  Karens.    The  stations  at  Henzada,  Toun- 


70  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

goo  and  Shwegyin  were  all  opened  In  the  year  1 853. 
The  first  mentioned  was  inaugurated  by  Rev.  B. 
C.  Thomas,  a  man  of  indomitable  energy  whose 
overflowing  spirits  are  still  remembered  with  affec- 
tion by  the  Karens.  The  mission  at  Toungoo  was 
opened  by  Dr.  Mason,  ably  assisted  by  Saw  Quah 
Lah,  the  native  evangelist  already  mentioned,  under 
whose  ministry  twenty-eight  churches  were  organ- 
ized. In  the  Shwegyin  mission,  the  story  of  the 
founding  of  which  by  Rev.  Norman  Harris  has 
already  been  told  in  part,  the  first  year  saw  the 
organization  of  six  churches. 

In  all  these  fields  not  only  were  churches  organ- 
ized and  gathered  into  associations,  but  from  the 
beginning  all  the  activities  proper  to  a  well-regu- 
lated Christian  community  were  adopted.  Karen 
pastors  were  chosen  and  placed  in  charge  of  the 
churches.  Schools  were  started,  the  station  school 
under  the  direct  oversight  of  the  missionary  and 
village  schools  as  fast  as  teachers  could  be  supplied. 
Missions,  both  home  and  foreign,  were  instituted 
and  evangelists  sent  out  to  various  parts.  At  the 
very  first  meeting  of  the  Shwegyin  association,  for 
instance,  four  men  were  appointed  to  evangelize 
the  far-off  regions  of  Northern  Siam.  Through- 
out the  whole  Karen  community,  converts  were 
gathered  by  hundreds  and  thousands,  and  for  a 
time  it  seemed  that  the  entire  people  would  be 
Christianized,  fulfilling  the  prophecy  that  a  na- 
tion shall  be  born  in  a  day. 


HINDRANCES 

THE  work  was  not  to  be  without  hindrances. 
The^^eafty^promlse  was  not  to  be  fully 
realized.  Not  only  did  the  large  Ingath- 
erings cease,  but,  for  a  time,  many  went  back.  It 
Is  probably  an  almost  universal  experience  that, 
when  converts  are  made  In  large  numbers,  there 
follows  a  period  of  reaction.  Such  Is  the  case 
even  In  Europe  and  America,  as  witness  the  Welsh 
revival  under  Evan  Roberts.  Those  early  Karen 
disciples  were  very  Ignorant.  It  Is  said  that  they 
knew  two  things  only,  first,  that  their  book  had 
been  brought  back  to  them,  and  second,  that  they 
had  no  need  to  fear  the  evil  spirits,  for  Jesus  was 
stronger  than  the  evil  spirits.  That  was  enough 
for  salvation,  and  many  no  doubt  died  triumphant 
in  that  simple  faith,  but  it  was  not  enough  for  the 
highest  efficiency  in  the  Christian  life.  This  very 
ignorance  of  the  early  disciples  rendered  them 
liable  to  be  easily  led  astray,  and  In  the  pioneer 
years  of  the  Karen  missions  there  were  defections 
which  could  hardly  have  taken  place  after  the 
converts  had  become  more  intelligently  established 

71 


72  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

in  Christian  truth.  Fortunately  there  were  sayings 
of  the  elders  handed  down  from  ancient  times 
which  served  in  some  measure  to  hold  the  people 
to  their  new-found  hope.    One  ran  as  follows:- — 

^'Children  and  grandchildren,  in  the  latter  days 
many  different  faiths  will  arise.  Be  not  led  about 
hither  and  thither  by  them.  When  you  find  one 
that  does  away  with  the  whisky  still,  that  is  good 
enough.  Stick  to  it."  The  consequence  is  that 
any  form  of  religion  which  does  not  discounten- 
ance drinking,  even  though  it  may  profess  to  be 
Christian,  is  likely  to  have  little  hold  upon  them. 

Moreover  some  heathen  customs  have  always 
made  it  very  difficult  for  a  Karen  to  leave  his 
family  and  become  a  Christian.  For  instance  in 
connection  with  the  ceremony  already  mentioned  of 
eating  a  pig  when  some  one  has  been  taken  ill,  if 
the  family  circle  should  be  broken  by  the  refusal 
of  one  member  of  the  family  to  be  present,  and 
the  sick  person  should  die,  the  blame  for  it  would 
be  laid  on  the  recalcitrant  member.  Not  that  the 
Christian  need  care  for  that,  but  as  a  Christian, 
he  must  have  consideration  for  the  consciences  of 
others  and  not  impose  his  convictions  upon  them. 
On  this  account  it  has  sometimes  happened  that 
a  person  who  fully  intended  to  become  a  Christian, 
will  first  wait  to  perform  certain  heathen  cere- 
monies by  means  of  which  it  is  supposed  that  he 
can  forever  sever  himself  from  all  the  obligations 
of  his  former  faith.     Too  often  the  delay  has 


HINDRANCES  73 

proved  fatal.  The  person  himself  has  died,  or, 
overpersuaded  by  others,  he  has  lost  his  interest 
in  the  new  religion  and  has  gone  back  forever  to 
the  old. 

Very  early  evil-minded  persons  began  to  circu- 
late malicious  stories  about  the  white  foreigner 
and  hisjreligion^  The  writer  remembers  one  such 
story  which  became  current  in  his  childhood  re- 
garding his  father,  and  was  doubtless  believed  by 
many  of  the  naturally  credulous  among  the  heathen 
Karens.    It  ran  about  as  follows : — 

"An  old  Karen  lay  at  the  point  of  death.  Call- 
ing his  children  about  him,  he  spoke  to  them  as 
follows :  'My  dear  children,  I  have  something  to 
tell  you.  When  Teacher  Harris  came  here,  I  was 
one  of  his  first  and  most  zealous  followers.  I  had 
perfect  confidence  in  him  and  did  everything  he 
said  without  doubt  or  question.  But  when  he  had 
made  about  a  dozen  converts,  he  invited  us  to  take 
a  ride  with  him  in  his  boat.  He  took  us  down  the 
river  and  out  to  sea.  There  a  great  and  wonder- 
ful ship  awaited  us  with  sails  which  were  like 
wings  and  carried  it  faster  than  any  ship  we  had 
ever  seen  before,  faster  even  than  the  fastest 
clouds.  The  room  which  he  occupied  was  luxuri- 
ously furnished  and  decorated  with  gold  and  silver. 
After  sailing  for  many,  many  days,  the  ship 
stopped  in  its  course  near  an  island.  Bye  and 
bye,  it  began  to  be  rumored  that  here  on  this  island 
lived  the  Daw  T'kah,  a  great  monster  which  de- 


74  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

lights  to  devour  human  flesh.  And  surely  enough, 
the  Daw  T'kah  himself  soon  came  on  board  to 
bargain  for  us,  and  when  he  had  poured  out  a 
roomful  of  gold  for  the  teacher,  he  scooped  the 
disciples  off  the  deck  into  his  bag  with  one  hand  as 
you  would  gather  grains  from  a  winnowing  tray, 
and  returned  to  his  home.  Fortunately  for  me, 
when  I  saw  what  was  about  to  happen,  I  slipped 
out  of  sight  and  dropped  into  the  hold  of  the  ship. 
There  I  was  able  to  secrete  myself  until  I  knew  we 
were  well  on  our  way  home.  Then  I  became  very 
hungry  and  was  forced  to  leave  my  hiding  place. 
I  threw  myself  at  the  teacher's  feet,  and  begged 
him  to  spare  my  life.  At  first  he  was  very  angry, 
and  threatened  to  kill  me  with  the  most  horrible 
cruelties,  but  after  much  entreaty  on  my  part  he 
finally  consented  to  spare  me  on  one  condition. 
I  was  to  keep  all  that  I  had  seen  a  profound  secret 
as  long  as  I  lived,  and  in  the  meantime  was  to 
use  all  my  influence  in  getting  more  converts  for 
him.  I  have  kept  my  promise  faithfully,  for  I 
knew  that  if  I  did  not,  the  teacher  would  devise 
the  most  excruciating  tortures  for  me.  But  now  I 
am  about  to  die,  and  I  can  keep  the  terrible  secret 
no  longer.  Listen  to  what  I  say.  Beware,  beware 
of  these  Christian  teachers !'  " 

So  when  Kahchur,  a  Karen  boy,  was  taken  to 
America  to  be  educated,  many  of  his  heathen 
neighbors  professed  to  believe  during  his  long  ab- 
sence that  the  missionary  had  fed  him  to  the  Daw 


HINDRANCES  75 

T'kah,  and  declared  their  intention  if  ever  Kahchur 
returned,  to  become  Christians  and  worship  his 
God.  When,  however,  Kahchur  indeed  returned, 
went  among  them  and  urged  them  to  keep  their 
pledge,  they  refused  to  believe  that  he  was  the 
real  Kahchur,  saying  that  he  was  a  clever  substi- 
tute.       — —  . 

But  a  far  more  serious  obstacle  to  the  acceptance 
of  the  gospel  by  the  Karens  than  any  of  these  has 
ever  been  their  essential  antagonism  to  Christianity 
because  of  the  high  morality  which  it  demands, 
this  in  spite  of  their  own  comparatively  high  moral 
standards.  The  human  heart  is  the  same  the 
world  over,  and  the  real  hindrances  to  the  spread 
of  the  gospel  are  singularly  alike  among  all  races 
of  men.  In  general,  the  acceptance  of  Christianity 
is  not  so  much  a  matter  of  the  head  as  of  the 
heart.  Especially  among  so  simple-minded  a  race 
as  the  Karens,  it  is  not  particularly  difficult  to 
convince  people  of  the  truth  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. There  is  that  in  the  gospel  which  compels 
conviction  so  that  with  very  little  preaching  they 
admit  its  truth  and  confess  its  claims.  But  the 
missionary  may  say  to  the  heathen  Karen  today  : 

"You  admit  the  truth  of  this  religion;  you  ac- 
knowledge that  you  ought  to  become  a  Christian. 
Then  why  do  you  not?"  what  will  the  answer  be? 
Perhaps  one  would  naturally  expect  him  to  say : 

"I  do  not  know  enough  about  your  religion." 
But  such  is  not  the  case.    He  will  say: 


76  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

"If  I  become  a  Christian,  I  will  have  to  give 
up  drinking,  and  card-playing,  and  theatre-going, 
and  dancing.  And  I  do  not  want  to.''  For — 
whatever  may  be  the  case  in  more  enlightened 
countries  and  among  a  more  civilized  people — 
even  among  the  heathen  Karens  these  practices  are 
not  considered  consistent  with  a  Christian  pro- 
fession, although  it  might  not  be  easy  to  prove  that 
they  are  more  debasing  than  are  the  corresponding 
practices  among  the  people  of  the  west.  They  have 
their  intoxicating  liquors,  vile  smelling  to  be  sure, 
but  palatable  to  their  lips.  They  have  their 
theatres  certainly  cruder  and  more  childish,  but 
possibly  no  more  immoral  than  some  theatrical 
performances  tolerated  In  American  cities.  Of 
dancing  there  are  various  kinds.  The  Karen  is 
little  more  than  a  slow  walk.  The  Burmese  is  a 
kind  of  posturing  which  looks  as  senseless  to  the 
westerner  as  perhaps  the  westerner's  does  to  the 
oriental,  while  to  the  oriental  his  own  mode  of 
dancing  probably  appears  to  be  the  more  modest, 
as  men  and  women  do  not  dance  together.  All 
these  things  are  recognized  by  the  heathen  them- 
selves as  being  entirely  proper  for  heathen,  but 
Improper  and  unsuftable  for  Christians;  and  here 
is  one  of  the  chief  obstacles  to  their  acceptance  of 
Christianity. 

The  Incoming  of  different  faiths  has  been  a 
source  of  perplexity  to  some.  A  Karen  once  said 
to  the  writer: 


HINDRANCES  77 

"What  are  we  to  believe?  Our  fathers  taught 
us  one  thing;  they  told  us  that  there  is  a  God  who 
made  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  but  they  did  not 
worship  him.  The  Burmese  Buddhists  tell  us 
that  there  is  no  God,  or  at  least,  that  we  can  know 
nothing  about  him.  The  Hindus  believe  something 
else.  And  even  when  you  white  people  come  to  us, 
you  do  not  agree  among  yourselves,  but  have  your 
different  churches,  such  as  the  Roman  Catholic  and 
the  Protestant.  How  can  we  tell  which  religion 
we  ought  to  accept?" 

"Oh,"  said  the  missionary  in  reply,  "I  grant 
you  there  are  many  faiths  but  there  are  only  two 
roads.  If  you  are  going  along  one  road,  you  can- 
not go  along  another  at  the  same  time.  If  you 
wish  to  follow  the  other  road,  you  have  to  leave 
the  first  one.  Now,  tell  me,  if  you  follow  the  old 
Karen  road  may  you  drink?" 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  the  man,  "that  is  part  of  the 
ceremony." 

"If  you  become  a  Buddhist,  may  you  still 
drink?" 

"Yes." 

"And  do  you  worship  idols  and  venerate  the 
monks?" 

"Yes." 

"And  if  you  become  a  Hindu  or  a  Roman  Cath- 
olic, is  it  the  same?" 

"Yes." 

"Do  you  not  see,  then,  that  that  is  all  the  same 


78  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

road?     But  if  you  become  a  true  Christian,  can 
you  still  drink  ?'* 

"No." 

"Can  you  still  worship  idols  or  venerate  the 
monks?" 
,    "No." 

"This,  you  see,  is  a  different  road,  and  it  is 
perfectly  easy  for  any  one  to  discriminate  between 
the  two.  You  know  whether  it  is  right  to  drink 
and  make  a  beast  of  yourself  or  not.  You  know 
perfectly  well  whether  it  is  right  to  set  up  a  stone 
and  worship  it  instead  of  the  God  who  created  all 
things.  You  know  whether  or  not  it  is  right  to 
venerate  the  monks  who  say  it  is  wrong  to  take 
animal  life  and  yet  eat  meat."  The  man  had 
nothing  more  to  say. 

Another  hindrance  to  the  progress  of  the  gospel 
among  the  Karens  which  has  not  been  generally 
recognized  but  has  doubtless  been  very  real  has 
been  the  rise  among  them,  from  time  to  time,  of 
false  prophets  and  leaders.  The  very  fact  that 
Karens  are  naturally  religious  has  rendered  them 
the  more  susceptible  to  suggestions  of  this  kind. 
In  the  olden  days  there  was  little  opportunity  for 
this  sort  of  thing,  but  as  the  Karens  came  into 
contact  with  the  other  faiths  of  Buddhism  on  the 
one  hand  and  Christianity  on  the  other,  some  im- 
bibed a  little  of  both  and  introduced  what  they 
proclaimed  as  new  cults.  These  had  enough  of 
truth  blended  with  their  superstition  to  appeal 


HINDRANCES  79 

strongly  to  the  Karen  people,  and  some  of  them 
gained  considerable  heathen  foUowings. 

The  latest  and  most  prominent  of  these  leaders 
was  KohjSaiL-Xa-y,  a  man  who,  for  a  time,  gained 
an  influence  among  his  people  which  was  truly  re- 
markable.^Born  near  Papun  in  the  eastern  part 
of  the  Shwegyin  field,  it  is  said  that  at  one  time 
he  attended  the  mission  school  at  Shwegyin,  but  if 
that  is  the  case,  his  schooling  must  have  been  very 
brief  indeed,  for  he  never  learned  to  read.  Ar- 
rived at  young  manhood  he  married,  but  in  a  short 
time  his  wife  and  little  one  died.  In  the  sorrow  of 
his  bereavement  he  betook  himself  to  the  solitude 
of  the  jungle  to  live  the  life  of  a  hermit.  He  was 
discovered  in  this  condition  half  dead  from  star- 
vation. Owing  to  the  influence  of  Buddhism,  the 
people  of  the  country  generally  have  great  respect 
for  the  ascetic,  and  so  some  began  to  pay  reverence 
to  Koh  Sah  Yay.  Later  he  made  his  headquarters 
on  the  summit  of  a  mountain  rising  to  the  east  of 
Shwegyin  at  a  distance  of  about  twenty-five  miles. 
Here  he  had  a  sort  of  temple  built  for  himself. 
It  was  situated  on  an  enormous  pyramidal  boulder 
at  the  very  crown  of  the  peak.  The  posts  of  the 
building  had  to  be  lashed  down  to  the  sides  of  the 
rock  with  great  bamboo  withes.  During  the  dry 
season,  which  in  Burma  lasts  for  six  months,  every 
drop  of  water  used  for  drinking  or  for  bathing 
and  culinary  purposes  had  to  be  brought  in  bamboo 
joints  from  far  down  the  mountain  side  on  the 


80  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

backs  of  men  and  women.  Of  course  to  take 
anything  else  there  was  an  equally  arduous  task. 
Frail  bamboo  bridges  were  built  across  yawning 
chasms,  and  ladders  made  of  bamboo  and  rattan 
were  placed  on  the  face  of  precipitous  rocks  to 
make  the  spot  accessible.  Yet  here  his  followers 
flocked  in  ever  increasing  numbers  until  the  ever- 
watchful  government  became  suspicious  of  the 
movement  and  feared  that  a  rebellion  might  be 
started.  Koh  Sah  Yay  was  therefore  advised 
to  come  down  to  the  plains.  Accordingly  he 
applied  for  a  large  tract  of  untilled  land,  and,  mov- 
ing there,  gathered  his  followers  about  him  and 
urged  them  to  bring  the  land  under  cultivation.  In 
this  way  he  built  up  quite  a  good  sized  village. 

About  this  time  Koh  Sah  Yay  professed  conver- 
sion to  Christianity  and  was  baptized  together  with 
nearly  two  hundred  of  his  followers.  It  frequently 
happens  that  when  leading  men  among  the  heathen 
become  Christians,  their  influence  over  their  hea- 
then neighbors  ceases,  but  this  was  not  the  case 
with  Koh  Sah  Yay.  He  visited  Rangoon,  Bassein, 
Henzada  and  Tharrawaddy  and  his  following  in- 
creased apace.  Great  crowds  of  people  flocked  to 
him,  and  through  his  influence  hundreds  and  even 
thousands  professed  Christianity  and  were  received 
into  the  membership  of  the  churches.  For  a  time 
the  movement  seemed  to  give  promise  of  being  a 
great  power  for  good.  Koh  Sah  Yay  himself  de- 
clared that  it  was  his  humble  mission  to  bring  the 


HINDRANCES  81 

people  together  and  give  the  preachers  who  had 
been  educated  and  had  enjoyed  privileges  such  as 
had  been  denied  him,  an  opportunity  to  deliver 
the  gospel  message.  Meanwhile  he  collected  vast 
sums  of  money^irom  the  people,  and  erected  great 
buildings  at  various  centers.  What  these  build- 
ings were  really  intended  for  was  somewhat  prob- 
lematical. They  were  much  larger  than  could  ever 
be  required  for  legitimate  Christian  work.  Koh 
Sah  Yay  himself  represented  that  they  were  simply 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  people  when  they 
assembled  for  worship,  but  some  declared  that  they 
were  to  be  courts  and  palaces  for  Koh  Sah  Yay 
when  he  should  be  appointed  and  established  by 
God  as  the  Karen  Messiah.  For  while,  as  has 
been  said,  the  Karens  are  universally  loyal  to  the 
British  government,  there  have  been,  from  time  to 
time,  some  among  the  heathen  who  thought  that 
God  by  unseen,  spiritual,  or  rather,  supernatural 
power  would  one  day  set  up  the  Karen  people 
above  their  neighbors.  At  the  best,  the  erection  of 
so  great  buildings  to  no  sufficient  purpose  seemed 
more  in  accordance  with  the  Buddhist  than  with 
the  Christian  ideal.  For  the  Buddhist  puts  up  a 
pagoda  or  a  rest  house  or  digs  a  well  purely  as  an 
act  of  merit  regardless  of  its  probable  usefulness, 
but  the  words  of  Jesus,  "Gather  up  the  fragments 
that  nothing  be  lost,"  have  often  enough  been 
dwelt  upon  to  show  his  repugnance  to  waste,  though 
few  realize  that  here  is  to  be  found  one  of  the 


82  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

really  great  distinguishing  features  of  his  religion. 

After  some  years,  Koh  Sah  Yay  took  to  himself 
a  wife,  and  his  influence  waned,  for  Buddhistic 
ideals,  including  reverence  for  celibacy,  have  more 
or  less  permeated  the  minds  of  all  the  non-Christian 
populations  of  the  country.  A  child  was  born  to 
him  under  a  banyan  tree,  held  sacred  by  the  Budd- 
hists because  Gautama  attained  to  Buddhaship 
under  such  a  tree.  He  hoped  that  in  the  birth  of 
this  child  he  would  be  rehabilitated  in  the  venera- 
tion of  the  people,  but  the  expected  son  and  suc- 
cessor proved  to  be  a  daughter,  and  from  that 
time  Koh  Sah  Yay's  power  steadily  declined.  It 
was  not  long  before  his  dead  body  was  found  in  a 
well.  How  he  came  to  his  death  is  not  known, 
but  it  is  thought  by  some  that  becoming  despondent 
because  of  his  diminishing  popularity  and  op- 
pressed by  the  enormous  debts  which  he  had  con- 
tracted in  his  various  enterprises,  he  committed 
suicide.  Many  of  his  followers  expected  him  to 
rise  again  after  forty  days,  and  notwithstanding 
their  disappointment  in  this  respect,  some  have 
endeavored  to  continue  the  cult,  but  with  steadily 
diminishing  success. 

The  whole  movement  was  certainly  a  strange 
one,  and  it  is  perhaps  still  too  early  to  estimate  it 
at  its  true  value.  Koh  Sah  Yay's  career  resembles 
in  some  regards  that  of  Alexander  Dowie.  Unlike 
the  latter,  he  never  professed  to  heal  diseases, 
lived  in  a  very  unpretentious  manner,  dressed  in 


HINDRANCES  83 

simple  clothing — usually  white  cotton  cloth — and 
ate  plain  food.  But  in  some  way  he  acquired  such 
an  influence  over  his  people  that  many  of  them 
sold  all  their  property  and  mortgaged  their  houses 
and  lands,  impoverishing  themselves,  in  order  that 
they  might  give  the  money  to  him.  How  he  ac- 
quired this  influence  it  is  difficult  to  explain  fully, 
just  as  in  the  case  of  the  founder  of  Zion  City. 
But  it  seems  probable  that  while  Koh  Sah  Yay 
himself  may  have  been  a  sincere  Christian,  his 
mind  was  perhaps  a  little  deranged,  the  movement 
got  beyond  his  control,  and  he  did  not  perceive  its 
true  drift.  The  movement  itself  seems  to  have 
been  built  up  on  superstition,  and  having  this  as 
a  basis  could  not  stand.  Certain  it  is  that  by  far 
the  great  majority  of  those  who  professed  con- 
version to  Christianity  under  its  influence  have 
now  gone  back  to  heathenism.  It  seems  likely  that 
this  and  similar  movements  among  the  heathen 
that  preceded  it,  have  been  a  real  detriment  to  the 
cause  of  the  gospel. 

These  are  a  few  of  the  hindrances  to  the  prog- 
ress of  Christianity  among  the  Karens.  It  should 
be  said,  however,  that  they  have  proved  in  some 
ways  to  be  helps.  They  have  served  to  toughen 
the  fiber  of  the  sincere  disciples  and  produce  a 
royal  race,  hardy,  keen  of  vision,  quick  to  discrim- 
inate between  the  true  and  the  false,  and  ready 
for  every  good  word  and  work. 


VIII 

PRESENT  ATTAINMENTS  IN  PERSONAL 
RELIGION. 

SOME  of  the  hindrances  to  the  progress  of 
the  work  have  been  mentioned.  Instead  of 
continuous  and  rapid  growth  such  as  seemed 
likely  at  the  first,  there  was  in  nearly  or  quite  all 
of  the  Karen  fields  or  missions  a  set-^back.  These 
early  gains  had  to  be  consolidated.  The  chaff  had 
to  be  separated  from  the  wheat;  the  sincere 
and  the  Insincere  converts  had  to  be  differen- 
tiated and  the  latter  weeded  out.  This  was 
a  long  and  tedious  process.  For  twenty  or 
thirty  years  In  most  of  the  missions  little  or  no 
progress  was  recorded;  the  love  of  many  grew 
cold.  The  heart  of  the  missionary  was  often 
pained  as  he  saw  those  who  at  one  time  showed 
much  promise,  give  up  their  faith  and  go  back 
into  the  blackness  of  darkness.  At  length,  how- 
ever, a  change  came.  The  days  of  ignorance  gave 
way  before  experiential  knowledge  of  the  truth 
and  the  disciples  became  established  in  the  faith. 
From  that  time  on  there  has  been  steady  growth. 

How  great  the  progress  has  been  may  perhaps 
be  judged  in  no  better  way  than  by  comparing  the 

84 


PERSONAL  RELIGION  85 

convert  of  the  present  day  with  the  experienced 
disciple.  In  general  it  may  be  said  that  the  con- 
verts from  heathenism  know  little  about  Christ. 
This  is  perhaps  not  quite  what  one  would  expect. 
The  missionary  is  supposed  to  preach  primarily 
*'the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ'*;  and  some  in- 
deed do  so.  They  preach  Christ  to  the  rawest 
heathen,  who  may  never  have  heard  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  before.  The  writer  has  no  criticism 
of  such;  they  may  be  quite  right  in  doing  so.  He 
merely  tells  what  he  has  himself  observed  when 
he  says  that  few  converts  from  heathenism  seem 
to  know  or  to  be  capable  of  comprehending  any- 
thing of  the  work  of  Christ.  They  know  only  of 
worshipping  God.  They  have  done  with  following 
Satan.  They  realize  the  folly  of  that,  and  desire  to 
turn  to  Father  God  and  serve  him.  This  is  about 
all  the  real  experience  they  have,  and  even  this 
may  be  vague  and  dim.  The  explanation  of  the 
whole  phenomenon  is  probably  that,  while  the  con- 
vert from  heathenism  is  too  ignorant  clearly  to 
differentiate  Christ  from  God,  yet  it  is  Christ  in 
God,  that  is,  the  Christian  conception  of  God  as 
he  hears  it  from  Christian  preachers,  that  attracts 
him. 

A  heathen  Karen  will  sometimes  make  up  his 
mind  to  worship  God.  To  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, he  is  already  a  converted  man.  But  he  will 
say  nothing  to  any  one  about  his  intention  lest  the 
evil  spirits  may  get  wind  of  it  and  be  offended. 


86  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

There  is  a  process,  however,  by  which  even  the 
heathen  may  put  an  end  to  their  connection  with 
the  evil  spirits.  The  writer  does  not  know  what 
it  is,  but  infers  from  accounts  that  it  involves  a 
course  of  feasting.  He  has  heard  of  heathen  who 
tired  of  performing  their  religious  ceremonies, 
and  so  went  through  this  process  and  still  remained 
heathen,  steadfastly  refusing  to  worship  God.  In 
like  manner,  the  convert  will  sometimes  wait  to 
go  through  this  process,  which  may  take  a  year. 
When  it  is  complete,  he  will  acknowledge  his  in- 
tention and  ask  to  be  baptized;  but  it  is  evident 
that  he  has  not  fully  escaped  from  the  power  of  his 
old  superstitions,  and,  as  has  been  said,  he  knows 
little  about  Christ.  He  thinks  only  of  turning  to 
God.  Nor  has  he  any  deep  sense  of  sin.  It  is 
only  after  Karens  have  been  converted  from  heath- 
enism for  a  good  while  that  they  develop  that,  and 
as  that  deepens,  their  understanding  and  apprecia- 
tion of  the  work  of  Christ  also  increases. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  note  here  that  the 
heathen  are  seldom  led  to  embrace  Christianity  by 
considerations  of  temporal  benefit.  As  has  already 
been  pointed  out,  the  early  Karen  disciples  believed 
that  they  need  no  longer  fear  the  evil  spirits,  be- 
cause Jesus  was  stronger  than  the  evil  spirits.  To 
this  day  this  opinion  prevails  even  among  the 
heathen.  In  view  of  the  constant  fears  with  which 
the  latter  are  surrounded  one  might  think  that  this 
would  be  a  strong  inducement  to  them  to  become 


PERSONAL  RELIGION  87 

Christians.  But  such  is  rarely  the  case.  The 
spiritual  element  in  Christianity  stands  out  so 
prominently  that  few  can  adopt  it  and  hold  to  it 
permanently,  who  have  not  experienced  a  real 
change  of  heart.  It  is  self-guarding,  like  the  ark 
of  the  covenant.  The  story  is  told  of  a  heathen 
who  was  haunted  by  an  evil  spirit.  He  never  saw 
it  himself,  but  sometimes  when  he  was  in  the  house 
sitting  by  the  hearth,  or  at  night  when  he  was 
abroad,  it  would  suddenly  appear  to  others,  plainly 
visible  at  his  side.  This  gave  him  an  uncanny 
reputation,  so  that  people  avoided  him  and  did 
not  welcome  him  to  their  homes.  At  length,  know- 
ing the  reputed  power  of  the  foreign  religion,  he 
determined  to  escape  from  the  malignant  influence 
which  had  possession  of  him  by  becoming  a  Chris- 
tian. He  accordingly  sought  out  an  ordained 
evangelist  and  applied  for  baptism.  He  managed 
to  pass  such  catechetical  examination  as  was  re- 
quired, and  was  baptized.  From  that  moment  the 
apparition  disappeared,  and  for  two  years  the  man 
lived  in  peace  and  enjoyed  the  confidence  and  com- 
panionship of  his  fellows.  But  at  the  end  of  that 
time  the  restraints  of  the  new  religion  became  irk- 
some. He  longed  for  the  leeks  and  the  onions  and 
the  garlick  of  Egypt;  his  soul  craved  the  old  indul- 
gences, and  he  went  back  to  his  heathen  practices. 
Then  the  apparition  appeared  at  his  side  again, 
and  continued  to  do  so  from  time  to  time  until  his 
death,  for  he  never  returned  to  the  better  faith. 


88  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

Of  course  the  writer  cannot  vouch  for  the  truth 
of  the  story,  although  it  is  told  in  all  seriousness 
and  is  circulated  among  Christians  and  heathen 
alike.  But  that  part  of  it  which  relates  to  the 
man's  return  to  heathenism  notwithstanding  the 
great  incentive  to  remain  a  nominal  Christian  is  at 
least  true  to  human  nature. 

Over  against  this  story,  as  showing  how  sincere 
hearts  may  be  drawn  back  to  a  dominating  faith 
even  in  most  adverse  circumstances,  may  be  set 
the  incident  which  the  writer  has  heard  of  an  old 
man  and  his  wife  who  lived  for  many  years  in  a 
Christian  village  and  professed  to  be  Christians 
and  had  indeed  lived  upright,  consistent  lives. 
But  bye  and  bye,  their  children  were  taken  from 
them  one  by  one  by  death.  Then  Satan  came  and 
tempted  them,  just  as  he  tempts  God's  children  in 
other  lands  when  he  gets  them  at  a  disadvantage. 
And  they  said : 

"Here  we  have  been  professing  Christians  for 
all  these  years,  and  this  is  all  we  have  gotten  for  it 
— our  children  have  been  taken  from  us  one  by 
one  unto  the  last.  We  can  stand  it  no  longer!" 
And  so  they  took  their  few  possessions,  perhaps 
not  more  than  would  go  into  a  little  bag  such  as 
the  Karens  carry  suspended  from  the  shoulder, 
probably,  at  most,  not  more  than  would  go  into  a 
basket  of  the  kind  they  carry  upon  their  backs, 
and  betook  themselves  to  a  heathen  village,  intend- 
ing to  spend  there  the  remainder  of  their  days. 


PERSONAL  RELIGION  89 

For  among  these  people  Christians  and  heathen 
do  not  live  together  in  the  same  village.  If  a  heath- 
en wants  to  become  a  Christian,  he  leaves  his  heath- 
en village  and  goes  to  live  in  a  Christian  village, 
and  contrariwise,  if  a  Christian  wearies  of  his  re- 
ligion and  wishes  to  go  back  into  heathenism,  he 
leaves  the  Christian  village,  and  goes  and  lives  in 
a  heathen  village.  Or,  if  Christians  and  heathen 
live  in  the  same  village,  as  may  sometimes  be 
necessary,  the  Christians  live  in  a  part  by  them- 
selves and  the  heathen  In  another  part  by  them- 
selves. So  this  man  and  his  wife  went  to  live  in  a 
heathen  village.  But  when  they  got  there,  the 
heathen  said  to  them: 

''Sing  us  some  of  the  songs  of  Zion,"  and  they 
said  it,  not  tauntingly  as  the  Babylonians  of  old 
said  it  to  the  Israelites,  but  because  they  really 
wished  to  listen.  And  as  well  as  they  could,  for 
their  voices  were  cracked  and  had  never  been  very 
good,  the  aged  couple  recalled  some  of  the  hymns 
which  they  had  learned  back  there  in  the  Chris- 
tian village,  and  they  sang  them.  Ever  as  they 
sang  the  heathen  said: 

"How  good  that  is!"  When  they  had  finished 
singing,  the  heathen  asked  them  about  the  teach- 
ings which  they  had  learned  back  there  in  the  Chris- 
tian village.  And,  as  well  as  they  could,  for  they 
had  never  been  trained  to  express  themselves  very 
much,  they  recalled  the  blessed  gospel  story,  and 
a§  they  told  it,  the  heathen  said : 


90  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

"How  good  that  is !  How  very  good  that  is  !'* 
Then  the  old  man  and  his  wife  turned  each  to  the 
other  and  said: 

**If  the  very  heathen  think  so  much  of  our  re- 
ligion, it  is  not  time  for  us  to  turn  our  backs  upon 
it."  So  they  gathered  together  again  their  few 
possessions,  returned  to  the  Christian  village,  and 
spent  there  the  remainder  of  their  days  in  the  fear 
and  service  of  God. 

The  attitude  of  the  Christians  towards  the 
heathen  and  their  intense  yearning  over  them  are 
so  tender  and  patient  as  to  be  pathetic.  The 
writer  remembers  to  have  heard  a  Karen  pastor 
tell  of  an  evangelistic  trip  which  he,  in  company 
with  some  missionary  ladies  and  teachers  and  pupils 
from  a  school,  had  made  over  a  week-end  among 
nearby  heathen  villages.  It  was  easy  to  see  that 
the  tour  had  been  far  from  pleasant.  The  visitors 
had  been  received  with  a  good  deal  of  coldness, 
and  sharp,  stinging  remarks  had  been  made  by  the 
heathen  at  the  expense  of  those  who  had  come  to 
preach  to  them.  But  the  pastor,  in  narrating  the 
experience,  made  light  of  that.    He  said : 

"When  a  man  is  ill,  you  bring  him  his  usual 
food,  and  he  has  no  appetite  for  it.  Then  you  get 
him  some  special  delicacy  which  you  think  he  will 
surely  like,  but  he  turns  away  from  it  in  disgust. 
You  try  one  thing  after  another,  but  your  efforts 
are  only  met  with  scorn.  Yet  you  do  not  get  angry 
with  him,  for  you  know  it  is  because  he  is  so  very 


KARENS  OF   MOUNTAIN  VILLAGE 


PERSONAL  RELIGION  91 

ill  that  he  has  no  desire  for  food.  And  so.  al- 
though the  heathen  did  not  receive  us  kindly,  we 
were  not  angry,  for  it  only  shows  how  very  ill 
they  are."  The  Karen  Christians  are  eager  for 
the  conversion  of  the  Burmese,  those  who  used 
formerly  to  be  their  persecutors.  Their  efforts  on 
their  behalf  are  unceasing.  Would  that  they  were 
more  successful !  As  it  is,  not  a  few  Burmese  are 
members  of  Karen  churches.  These  are  for  the 
most  part  Burmese  who  have  lived  in  the  vicinity 
of  Karen  Christians,  and,  although  Burmese  gen- 
erally despise  Karens,  have  seen  their  exemplary 
Christian  lives,  and  have  been  led  to  become 
Christians  themselves. 

The  real  inner  experience  of  any  people  is  a 
difficult  matter  to  trace,  especially  if  it  be  that  of  a 
race  who,  like  the  Karens,  have  never  been  accus- 
tomed to  express  themselves  along  those  lines. 
General  confessions  of  sin  one  will  hear  frequently, 
to  be  sure.  Before  every  observance  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  it  is  customary  among  all  the  churches  to 
have  a  preparatory  service  in  which  the  members 
are  expected  to  confess  to  one  another  their  spirit- 
ual condition,  settle  any  differences,  and  put  them- 
selves as  far  as  may  be  into  a  fitting  frame  for  the 
observance  of  the  sacred  ordinance.  At  these 
meetings  one  will  hear  so  much  of  acknowledgment 
of  failure  and  sin,  so  little  expression  of  helpful 
experiences,  that  one  wearies  of  listening  to  it.  To 
get  into  the  deeper  heart  life  of  the  Karen  disciples 


92  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

one  must  be  content  to  wait  and  watch  and  listen. 
When  he  has  once  fully  gained  their  confidence, 
perhaps  by  some  campfire  in  the  jungles,  the  con- 
versation will  turn  undirected  to  the  subject  of  the 
inner  life,  and  then  it  will  come  out. 

There  was  a  dear  old  man.  The  writer  had  just 
been  to  his  village,  the  farthest  Christian  village 
in  his  field,  nearly  a  whole  day*s  journey  over  a 
long,  high  mountain  beyond  the  village  just  pre- 
ceding, to  which  he  had  been.  He  was  starting 
back  over  this  same  high  mountain  when  this  dear 
old  man  seized  the  heaviest  thing  he  had.  For  in 
touring  in  that  country  there  are  no  hotels  where 
one  can  put  up  or  anything  of  the  kind  and  the 
missionary  is  obliged  to  take  with  him  everything 
he  is  likely  to  require,  beds,  bedding,  cooking  uten- 
sils, tents  and  so  forth.  The  missionary  had  no 
elephants  or  other  beasts  of  burden  with  him  at 
the  time,  so  that  everything  had  to  be  carried  by 
hand.  He  and  the  old  Karen  man  had  reached 
their  destination,  and  had  seated  themselves  and 
were  resting  a  while,  when  the  missionary  asked 
the  old  man  what  his  name  was.  It  was  not  par- 
ticularly strange  that  he  should  not  know  it,  for 
Karens  never  think  of  introducing  one  another  by 
name.    However,  the  old  man  said  reproachfully: 

"Why,  doesn't  the  Teacher  know  my  name? 
They  used  to  call  me  Too  Loo  Koo's  father,  but 
now  they  call  me  Miss  Fragrance's  father."  For 
it  is  a  singular  custom  which  the  people  of  those 


PERSONAL  RELIGION  93 

parts  have  of  calling  a  person  after  the  name  of 
his  oldest  living  child.  So,  when  the  old  man  said, 
"They  used  to  call  me  Too  Loo  Koo's  father,  but 
now  they  call  me  Miss  Fragrance's  father,"  the 
missionary  knew  what  it  meant — there  had  been  a 
death  in  his  httle  family. 

Then  the  old  man  went  on  to  tell  about  Too 
Loo  Koo,  his  first-born,  a  son,  and  how  his  fatherly 
affections  had  twined  ever  more  and  more  closely 
about  the  little  one.  And  when  he  got  to  be  ten  or 
twelve  years  of  age,  his  father  sent  him  down  to 
the  station  school  at  Shwegyln. 

"For,"  said  he,  "I  always  wanted  to  preach, 
but  I  was  never  able  because  I  was  too  Ignorant,  but 
I  wanted  this  son  of  mine  to  be  educated  so  that 
when  he  grew  up  he  might  go  and  preach  in  my 
stead."  So  the  little  fellow  was  growing  pretty 
well  Into  young  manhood — in  his  father's  story — 
perhaps  sixteen  or  eighteen  years  of  age,  when 
the  missionary  saw  tears  in  the  old  man's  eyes  and 
his  chin  began  to  quiver,  as  he  said : 

"But  Teacher,  the  Lord  took  him,  the  Lord 
took  him."  In  a  moment,  however,  the  chin  ceased 
to  quiver,  and  there  came  over  the  dear  old  man's 
face  such  a  look  of  heavenly  resignation  as  only 
the  saints  of  God  can  know,  as  he  added : 

"But  it  is  all  right,  Teacher.  It  is  all  right. 
There  is  no  rebellion  in  my  heart,  for  it  was  the 
Lord  that  did  it." 

It  is  blessed  to  note  how  graciously  God  some- 


94  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

times  deals  with  even  the  most  ignorant  and  be- 
nighted. The  missionary  was  asked  to  go  to  the 
hospital  to  see  a  young  man  who  had  just  been 
brought  in.  He  found  a  most  pitiful  spectacle,  a 
youth  of  from  sixteen  to  eighteen  years  of  age 
whose  eyes  had  been  scratched  out  by  a  bear. 
He  had  been  out  in  the  jungle  with  some  com- 
panions of  his  when  the  bear  appeared.  The  rest 
were  fortunate  enough  to  make  their  escape,  but 
this  poor  fellow  climbed  up  into  a  tree,  the  branch 
to  which  he  clung  broke,  letting  him  fall  to  the 
ground,  and  the  bear,  after  the  custom  of  its  kind, 
made  a  dash  for  his  face,  scratched  at  it  with  its 
long  claws,  and  then  ran  off.  The  other  men, 
realizing  the  terrible  plight  of  their  comrade,  has- 
tily put  him  into  a  small  native  boat  and  brought 
him  down  the  twenty  miles  or  so  to  the  city.  The 
sight  of  both  eyes  was  completely  destroyed.  The 
young  man  said  he  wished  he  could  die.  The  mis- 
sionary, seeing  his  condition,  did  not  wonder  that 
he  felt  so.  He  did  what  he  could  for  the  youth, 
and  went  away.  Soon  after,  he  was  obliged  to  take 
his  furlough  home,  and  saw  and  heard  nothing 
more  about  the  young  man  for  two  years  or  more. 
Then  he  learned  that,  although  his  physical  vision 
had  been  destroyed,  his  spiritual  eyes  had  been 
opened,  for  he  had  become  a  most  faithful  and 
devoted  Christian.  Before  he  lost  his  sight,  he  had 
had  few  advantages,  for  he  was  a  heathen  and  had 
known  only  a  heathen  home.  He  had  never  learned 


PERSONAL  RELIGION  95 

to  read,  and  knew  nothing  of  the  bible  story  or  of 
Christian  singing.  Now,  in  his  blindness,  he  had 
turned  to  God,  he  consorted  with  God's  people, 
and  he  sought  to  walk  in  the  ways  of  righteousness. 
Ever  when  the  gong  sounded  for  services,  he 
would  grope  his  way  to  the  chapel,  take  his  seat 
near  the  preacher,  and  listen  attentively  to  the 
instruction  that  was  given.  When  the  people  sang, 
he  would  join  as  well  as  he  could  in  the  singing; 
and  when  the  time  came  for  prayer,  he  would  raise 
his  voice  and  offer  his  petition,  at  first  with  broken 
utterance,  but  with  more  and  more  of  freedom  as 
he  acquired  practice.  So,  little  by  little,  his  knowl- 
edge and  understanding  grew,  and  his  testimony 
was  so  spontaneous,  so  cheerful  and  so  full  of  grati- 
tude that  it  was  a  source  of  strength  and  encour- 
agement to  the  little  church  with  which  he  wor- 
shipped and  into  the  membership  of  which  he 
was  baptized. 

But,  after  a  time,  there  was  a  change.  The 
travelling  evangelist  who  visited  the  place  occa- 
sionally found  that  the  young  man  was  not  in  his 
accustomed  place,  and  made  inquiries  regarding 
him.  No  one  seemed  to  know  quite  what  the 
trouble  was,  and  so  the  evangelist  went  to  see  the 
young  man  in  person,  and  asked  him  why  he  was 
no  longer  frequenting  the  place  of  prayer  as  for- 
merly, and  why  his  voice  was  not  raised  in  petition 
as  it  had  been  before. 

"Teacher,"  said  the  young  man,  "1  would  like 


96  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

to  go  to  the  house  of  God  as  aforetime,  and  join 
in  the  singing  and  the  prayers.  My  heart  Is  not 
changed,  or  my  desire  for  these  things  diminished. 
But,  whenever  I  bow  my  head  to  pray,  Satan  comes 
with  a  host  of  his  friends  and  he  threatens  to  kill 
me,  and  I  dare  not  pray."  The  evangelist  was  a 
wise  man,  and,  as  he  reflected,  he  thought  It  likely 
that  the  young  brother  was  suffering  from  hallu- 
cinations occasioned  by  his  blindness,  that  being 
unable  to  see  his  thoughts  had  turned  In  upon  him- 
self until  his  mind  had  become  partly  unbalanced, 
but  after  a  moment's  deliberation  he  turned  to  the 
young  man  and  said  to  him: 

"Brother,  let  me  make  to  you  a  suggestion. 
When  you  want  to  pray  again,  bow  your  head,  and 
call  on  Jesus  to  help  you,  and  tell  Satan  you  are 
going  to  pray  any  way,  even  If  he  kills  you."  The 
evangelist  went  away  and  was  gone  for  several 
weeks.  When  he  returned,  he  found  that  the 
young  man  had  resumed  his  former  place  with  the 
people  of  God  and  was  joining  in  prayer  and  praise 
as  heartily  as  before.  When  he  could,  he  asked 
him  of  the  matter,  and  the  young  man  replied: 

"Teacher,  I  did  just  as  you  said  I  should.  I 
bowed  my  head,  and  I  called  upon  the  name  of 
Jesus,  and  I  defied  Satan  and  all  his  hosts,  and 
he  took  flight,  and  I  have  seen  nothing  of  him  from 
that  day  to  this." 

Surely,  If  the  fellowship  of  the  saints  means  any- 
thing, it  is  entirely  possible  for  the  Christian  of 


PERSONAL  RELIGION  97 

America  to  have  fellowship  with  the  Karen  Chris- 
tians of  Burma  at  the  present  day,  for  they  have 
like  precious  hope  in  the  gospel,  the  same  con- 
solations of  the  Spirit,  and  the  same  source  of 
power.  The  writer  would  never  feel  the  necessity 
of  returning  to  the  homeland  for  the  sake  of  en- 
joying Christian  fellowship,  for  he  can  find  it  in 
Burma  among  the  Karen  disciples  in  just  as  rich 
and  abundant  and  satisfying  measure  as  he  can 
find  it  anywhere.  Many  of  the  pastors  of  churches 
are  truly  men  of  God,  and  the  missionary  soon 
learns  to  take  counsel  with  them  and  to  value  their 
helpful  advice.  Most  of  them  are  better  versed 
In  the  contents  of  Scripture  than  the  average  Amer- 
ican pastor,  and  to  the  preaching  of  some  of  them 
any  one  might  listen  with  interest  and  profit. 


IX 


PRESENT  ATTAINMENTS  IN  CHURCH 

ORGANIZATION,    DISCIPLINE    AND 

EFFECTIVENESS. 

FROM  the  beginning,  the  Karen  churches 
have  been  independent  and  from  a  very- 
early  period  the  great  majority  of  them  have 
been  self-supporting.  The  missionary  is  some- 
times described  as  being  a  bishop,  but,  while,  if  he 
has  the  confidence  of  his  people,  he  may  have  more 
real  power  than  mere  ecclesiastical  authority  can 
possibly  confer,  yet  this  power  is  always  due  to 
his  personality  rather  than  to  his  position.  He  has 
absolutely  no  authority  to  impose  his  will  upon 
even  the  feeblest  and  most  insignificant  of  God*s 
children.  At  the  present  time  there  are  connected 
with  all  the  Karen  missions  about  nine  hundred 
churches  with  approximately  fifty-five  thousand 
communicants.  The  missions  are  twelve  in  number. 
By  a  mission  is  meant  a  circle  of  churches  under 
the  supervision  of  a  single  missionary.  Usually 
these  churches  lie  within  a  distinct  region  of  terri- 
tory with  fairly  well  defined  boundaries,  called  the 

98 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATION  99 

field  of  the  particular  missionary,  but  there  is  some 
overlapping  of  fields.  Of  the  churches,  about  seven 
hundred  have  pastors,  all  of  whom  are  Karens. 
Most  of  the  pastors  have  had  from  one  to  four 
years  of  training  in  the  Karen  Theological  Semi- 
nary in  Insein.    About  two  hundred  of  them  have 
been  ordained  and  are  competent  to  administer  the 
ordinances   of  baptism   and  the   Lord's   Supper. 
These  pastors  often  consult  the  missionary,  and 
here  is  really  the  missionary's  opportunity.    If  he 
is  wise,  he  can  impress  his  opinions  upon  his  people, 
and  it  is  highly  important  that  he  should  do  his  best 
to  hold  them  up  to  high  standards.    The  besetting 
sins  of  the  Karen  people  at  the  present  time  are 
drunkenness  and  immorality.    The  lapse  from  the 
high  state  of  morality  which  existed  among  them 
at  the  first  is  due  to  their  contact  with  other  races 
which  had  no  such  ideals.     On  this  account  disci- 
pline has  to  be  more  strictly  administered  in  this 
regard  than  would  otherwise  be  necessary.     But 
when  the  missionary  has  given  his  opinion,   his 
power  ends ;  he  can  do  no  more.    It  remains  for  the 
native  church  to  put  his  suggestions  into  force  or 
not,  as  they  think  fit.     This  may  seem,  at  first 
thought,  an  unsafe  course  to  pursue  but  the  idea  is 
that  the  churches  have  the  Holy  Spirit  as  well  as 
the  missionary,  and  it  is  even  better  than  the  church 
should  make  a  mistake  than  that  the  missionary 
should  force  his  will  upon  it.     And  it  should  be 
said  to  the  honor  of  the  churches  that,  in  general, 


100  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

their  administration  of  affairs  is  most  creditable. 
Whenever  a  member  has  done  anything  unworthy 
of  his  Christian  profession,  whatever  his  standing 
or  social  position  may  be,  as  soon  as  it  comes  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  church,  he  is  subjected  to  dis- 
ciphne.  If  the  offense  is  of  a  minor  character,  he  is 
reproved  or  perhaps  suspended  for  a  time  from 
membership,  and  exhorted  to  repent  and  mend  his 
ways.  If  it  is  some  outbreaking  sin,  he  is  at  once 
excluded  from  fellowship.  All  this  is  done  in  a 
spirit  of  Christian  love;  and  if  the  offender  repents 
of  his  sin,  and  makes  confession,  and  shows  the 
fruits  of  repentance  in  his  life,  he  is  restored  to 
the  fellowship  of  the  church,  and,  as  lovingly  as 
before,  the  offense  for  which  he  was  disciplined  is 
often  scarcely  mentioned  to  him  again.  All  this 
is  done,  as  has  been  said,  by  the  local  church  with- 
out any  reference  whatever  to  the  missionary,  and 
most  missionaries  are  glad  to  have  it  so. 

But  even  if  the  missionary  were  disposed  to 
interfere  in  the  internal  affairs  of  the  churches, 
he  is  precluded  from  doing  so  by  the  fact  that  the 
churches  in  most  of  the  missions  are  not  only  en- 
tirely independent  and  self-supporting,  but  they 
support  all  their  schools  and  other  enterprises  be- 
sides. In  fact  the  churches  of  each  mission  are 
organized  into  an  association,  or,  it  may  be,  into 
two  associations  of  churches  which  meet  once  a 
year,  through  their  representatives,  for  a  com- 
parison of  their  work  and  for  mutual  help  and 


SCHOOL    BOYS    DRILLING,    TOUNGOO,    BURMA 


'■•■^■^ 

ji'^BK^''  '•  'tB^'j  *  ^^i                     *'^K 

FOUR   LITTLE    KARENS,    TOUNGOO,    BURMA 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATION  101 

comfort,  and  the  statistical  tables  which  these  asso- 
ciations publish  are  quite  formidable.  They  show 
contributions  on  the  part  of  the  churches  for  the 
support  of  their  pastors,  for  the  support  of  the 
station  or  town  school,  for  the  support  of  the  vil- 
lage schools,  for  ministerial  education,  for  home 
missions,  for  foreign  missions,  and  in  fact  for  all 
the  varied  functions  which  are  required  for  orderly 
church  organization  and  activity.  These  associa- 
tional  gatherings  have  their  own  chairman  chosen 
by  the  people  themselves,  their  secretaries,  their 
committees,  their  treasurers,  the  last  named  usually 
handling  all  the  funds  of  the  association,  under  its 
direction.  The  chairman  presides  with  dignity, 
and  often  with  efficiency.  All  questions  pertaining 
to  the  general  work  of  the  churches  are  decided 
by  vote  of  the  assembly.  More  liberty  in  talking 
back  and  forth  is  usually  allowed  than  would  be 
permissible  under  strict  parliamentary  rules,  but 
the  people  generally  discuss  matters  until  they  know 
what  they  want  and  vote  accordingly.  The  secre- 
taries keep  a  record  of  the  meetings,  collect  letters 
and  reports  from  the  churches,  and  tabulate  them. 
The  committees  manage  and  direct  all  the  general 
work  of  the  churches.  They  appoint  the  evangel- 
ists who  engage  in  home  mission  work,  designate 
them,  supervise  them,  and  regulate  their  salaries. 
A  committee  or  board  is  also  usually  appointed  to 
have  charge  of  the  town  school.  This  committee 
may  appoint  or  discharge  teachers,  gather  the  funds 


102  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

for  the  running  expenses  of  the  school,  decide  on 
questions  of  discipline,  and  determine  general  ques- 
tions of  policy. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  churches  are  self-sup- 
porting. By  this  is  not  meant  that  they  support 
their  pastors  in  every  case  as  churches  in  America 
do,  but  simply  that  they  are  not  dependent  upon 
mission  funds  from  America.  So  far  from  the 
church  supporting  the  pastor,  it  often  happens  that 
the  pastor  supports  himself  or  may  even  support 
the  church.  This  custom  has  come  down  from 
the  early  beginning  of  the  work.  At  that  time,  the 
leading  man  in  each  church  was  appointed  its  pas- 
tor. Most  of  the  men  who  were  thus  chosen  had 
their  own  means  of  support,  and  needed  no  help 
from  their  churches.  Furthermore,  many  of  them 
were  men  of  foresight  and  initiative,  and  when  they 
saw  the  advantages  of  being  under  British  govern- 
ment, they  took  up  land  or  started  enterprises 
which  were  later  of  value  to  their  people.  Such 
being  the  precedent  established,  the  successors  of 
those  early  pioneer  pastors  have  had,  for  the  most 
part,  to  find  their  own  means  of  support.  This  has 
not  been  as  great  a  hardship,  however,  as  might  at 
first  appear,  for  few  of  them  are  men  of  sufficient 
training  to  be  capable  of  spending  all  their  time 
in  the  preparation  of  sermons  and  the  other  work 
of  the  church.  When,  however,  a  pastor  or  any 
other  Christian  worker  has  that  capacity,  he  is 
usually  given  a  fair  living;  and  in  general,  with 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATION  103 

changed    conditions    an    Increasing    number    of 
churches  are  supporting  their  pastors  in  full. 

The  schools  are  the  especial  care  of  the 
churches.  Government  does  not  provide  a  public 
school  system  such  as  is  found  in  America,  any 
more  than  it  is  provided  in  England.  The  English 
Idea  is  that  any  one  should  have  only  such  an  edu- 
cation as  he  can  pay  for.  But  the  desire  of  the 
Karen  churches  In  general  is  that  every  one  who 
wants  an  education  shall  have  It.  Two  main  sys- 
tems of  schools  are  recognized  by  the  government, 
the  vernacular,  under  native  inspectors,  in  which 
all  subjects  are  taught  in  the  vernacular  only,  and 
the  Anglo-Vernacular,  under  European  inspectors, 
in  which  English  Is  taught  in  addition  to  other  reg- 
lar  subjects.  There  are  vernacular  schools  in  nearly 
every  village  that  can  possibly  support  one,  and 
there  are  central  or  main  Anglo- Vernacular 
schools,  usually  at  the  station,  in  charge  of  the 
missionary.  The  latter  are  maintained  not  simply 
because  the  people  have  a  craving  to  learn  the  Eng- 
lish language,  but  because  the  grade  of  work  done 
in  such  schools  under  government  supervision  is  of 
a  higher  order  than  in  the  vernacular  schools.  In 
all  the  village  schools,  numbering  about  seven  hun- 
dred with  an  enrollment  of  over  eighteen  thousand, 
the  tuition  is  absolutely  free,  and  in  most  of  the 
station  schools  it  was  free  until  a  few  years  ago, 
when  the  government  required  a  small  tuition  fee 
to  be  levied.  Even  now,  it  is  as  small  as  possible. 


104  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

and  in  most  schools  free  board  is  supplied  by  the 
contributions  of  the  churches,  so  that  it  is  really 
cheaper  for  a  youth  to  attend  school  than  not. 
Most  of  the  sixteen  station  schools,  with  their  near- 
ly two  thousand  five  hundred  pupils,  are  middle  or 
secondary  schools,  but  there  are  two  high  schools 
with  approximately  two  hundred  pupils.  From 
all  of  these  schools  pupils  are  constantly  passing  to 
the  various  departments  of  the  college  at  Rangoon, 
or,  for  religious  instruction,  to  the  Theological 
Seminary  at  Insein  or  the  Karen  Woman's  Bible 
Training  School  at  Ahlone.  The  proportion  of 
girls  to  boys  receiving  instruction  in  the  primary 
schools  is  about  four  to  five,  in  the  secondary 
schools  about  one  to  two,  and  in  the  high  schools, 
about  one  to  six. 

The  Theological  Seminary  is  worthy  of  special 
mention.  It  has  a  corps  of  two  American  and  four 
native  teachers,  a  four  years'  course,  and  for  many 
years  it  has  had  an  enrollment  of  about  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
students.  Many  of  the  students  return  to  serve 
the  churches  of  their  own  fields,  but  some  go  to 
distant  parts  as  missionaries  of  the  gospel  to  other 
tribes.  A  Greek  department  is  being  developed  for 
the  benefit  of  men  of  exceptional  attainments. 
Needless  to  say,  the  influence  of  this  school  has  ex- 
tended for  and  wide.  The  financial  support  of  the 
institution  is  borne  jointly  by  the  churches  and  the 
Society  in  America. 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATION  105 

As  has  already  been  stated,  all  of  these  various 
enterprises,  with  the  partial  exception  just  men- 
tioned, are  carried  on  by  the  churches  absolutely 
at  their  own  expense.  In  a  few  of  the  missions, 
small  grants  from  the  Society  at  home  are  still  be- 
ing received  for  the  support  of  the  station  school, 
but  even  these  are  almost  negligible  and  are  rapidly 
being  dropped  altogether.  The  contributions  of 
the  churches  for  all  objects  during  the  last  year  for 
which  statistics  are  available  amountedto$  107, 122. 
For  purposes  of  comparison  with  the  giving  of 
churches  in  America  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  usual  daily  wage  for  unskilled  labor  in  Burma 
is  about  half  of  a  Rupee  or  one-sixth  of  a  dollar. 
Every  dollar  contributed,  therefore,  corresponds  to 
six  days^  wages  which  in  America  would  amount  to 
from  $12  to  $15. 

Many  instances  might  be  related  of  the  liberality 
of  the  Karen  Christians.  Recently  in  Bassein,  a 
school  dormitory  was  to  be  erected.  About  Rs. 
20,000,  nearly  $7,000,  had  to  be  raised  among  the 
Christian  Karens  to  meet  the  expense,  the  remain- 
der being  met  by  the  government.  It  was  a  time 
of  scarcity,  for  the  war  made  it  difficult  for  the 
Karen  farmers  to  dispose  of  their  rice.  But  one 
man,  who  had  no  ready  money,  borrowed  Rs. 
1,500  or  $500,  saying  that  he  frequently  had  to 
borrow  money  for  his  own  work,  and  why  should 
he  not  borrow  money  to  provide  for  the  Lord's 
work?    The  Shwegyin  association  was  once  invited 


106  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

by  one  of  Its  smallest  churches  to  hold  Its  next  an- 
nual meeting  with  them.  Knowing  what  a  great 
task  It  is  to  entertain  the  meetings  where  the  at- 
tendance usually  ranges  from  eight  hundred  to 
twelve  hundred  people  and  may  rise  to  two  thou- 
sand, the  committees  of  the  association  called  the 
representatives  of  the  little  church,  and  asked  them 
If  they  understood  what  they  were  doing. 

*'We  Karens  usually  know  what  we  are  about," 
was  the  quiet  response.  Then  it  developed  that 
not  the  whole  church,  but  one  man  had  invited  the 
association.  He  was  a  man  of  some  means,  and 
when  he  was  approached  he  said: 

"When  I  was  a  heathen,  I  used  to  give  feasts 
for  my  heathen  neighbors,  and  now  why  should  I 
not  give  a  feast  to  my  Christian  brethren?  What 
If  it  costs  the  price  of  an  elephant?  I  will  supply 
the  money,  furnish  the  eatables,  and  provide  the 
entertainment  In  full.  Give  me  this  pleasure  be- 
fore I  die.''  When  they  heard  his  remarks,  the 
committee  could  remonstrate  no  further  and  ap- 
pointed the  next  meeting  at  the  old  man's  village. 
Such  illustrations  of  the  devotedness  of  the  Karen 
disciples  to  their  Lord  and  his  work  might  be  given 
without  number. 

It  Is  of  Interest  to  note  that  the  very  same  laws 
which  experience  has  proved  to  be  regnant  In  the 
lives  of  the  churches  in  America  operate  among 
the  Karen  churches  of  Burma.  Especially  Is  this 
true  with  reference  to  the  value  to  the  churches  of 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATION  107 

home  and  foreign  mission  work;  and  again  and 
again  It  has  been  demonstrated  that  the  latter,  as 
well  as  the  former,  is  indispensable  to  the  best 
prosperity  of  God's  spiritual  heritage.  For  the 
foreign  mission  enterprise  has  in  it  the  elements  of 
extension;  it  is  like  a  jointed  fishpole.  Christians 
in  America  send  out  their  missionaries  to  foreign 
lands  but  that  is  not  the  end;  it  is  merely  one  sec- 
tion of  the  rod.  When  churches  are  formed  there, 
they  in  turn  send  missionaries  to  still  other  regions, 
and  so  on.  Thus  it  has  been  from  the  beginning, 
and  thus  it  will  be  forevermore  until  the  Lord 
himself  returns. 

A  veteran  pastor  in  America  used  to  tell  how, 
at  one  time,  when  his  church  was  heavily  burdened 
with  debt,  he  preached  a  sermon  on  foreign  mis- 
sions, and  so  fervently  urged  his  people  to  give  to 
that  cause  that  his  deacons  came  to  him  after  the 
sermon  and  remonstrated  with  him,  saying: 

"Don't  you  know,  pastor,  that  we  cannot  afford 
to  have  our  people  give  largely  for  foreign  mis- 
sions, because  we  have  this  heavy  debt  on  us,  and 
we  must  use  all  our  powers  to  raise  that?"  The 
pastor  said  nothing,  but  a  few  Sundays  later  he 
preached  from  the  text,  "If  I  forget  thee,  O  Jeru- 
salem, let  my  right  hand  forget  her  cunning.  Let 
my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth,  if  I 
remember  thee  not;  if  I  prefer  not  Jerusalem  above 
my  chief  joy."  And  as  he  presented  the  needs  of 
the  home  church,  his  words  were  accompanied  with 


108  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

such  power  that  his  people  gave  as  they  had  never 
given  before,  and  when  afterwards,  the  sum  of 
their  giving  was  counted  up,  It  was  found  that,  be- 
hold, the  heavy  debt  which  had  so  long  burdened 
them  had  vanished  away.  The  pastor  always  at- 
tributed the  success  of  that  endeavor  to  the  pre- 
vious preaching  of  the  foreign  mission  sermon  and 
the  opening  of  his  people's  hearts  to  the  world- 
wide work. 

The  writer  once  had  his  attention  forcibly  called 
by  a  minister  of  another  denomination  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  Baptists  in  America,  as  showing  In 
a  rather  remarkable  manner  the  healthy  reaction- 
ary effect  of  the  foreign  mission  enterprise  not  only 
upon  an  individual  church,  but  also  upon  an  entire 
denomination.  At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  the  Baptists  of  the  United  States  num- 
bered about  seventy  thousand,  a  poor,  scattered, 
feeble  folk,  with  little  of  common  Interest  or  co- 
hesion. Shortly  after  that,  they  divided  about 
equally  on  the  subject  of  missions,  half  of  them 
becoming  mission  Baptists  and  the  other  half  anti- 
mission  Baptists.  It  w^as  at  the  time  when  Dr. 
Adonlram  Judson  sent  back  his  thrilling  appeals 
from  Burma  for  help.  The  mission  Baptists  heard 
the  call  and  responded.  The  anti-mission  Baptists, 
on  the  other  hand,  said: 

"Why  should  we  send  missionaries  to  foreign 
lands,  we  have  not  enough  pastors  to  meet  our  own 
needs.    No ;  if  God  wants  to  convert  the  heathen, 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATION  109 

he  can  do  It  without  any  of  our  aid."  What  has 
been  the  result?  The  writer  sometimes  recounts 
this  history  to  his  own  people  In  the  Shwegyin  mis- 
sion and  he  is  accustomed  to  say  to  them : 

*'You  expect  your  strength  to  be  Increased,  not 
when  you  take  rice  and  put  It  Into  other  people's 
mouths'  but  when  you  put  It  Into  your  own  mouth. 
And  so  one  might  naturally  think  that  the  antl- 
mlsslon  Baptists  would  have  Increased  In  strength, 
and  the  mission  Baptists  have  diminished.  But 
that  Is  not  the  law  of  the  spiritual  kingdom  which 
is,  *GIve  and  gain.'  "  So  the  mission  Baptists  of 
America,  instead  of  diminishing,  have  increased, 
not  two-fold  or  three-fold,  but  ten-fold,  a  hundred- 
fold, nearly  two  hundred-fold,  until  the  scattered 
thirty-five  thousand  have  become  a  mighty  host,  al- 
most seven  million  strong;  and  from  being  the  tail 
they  have  become  well-nigh  the  head,  standing 
among  the  first  in  their  educational  endowments, 
in  the  effectiveness  of  their  denominational  enter- 
prises, and  in  their  equipment  for  every  good  work. 
The  anti-mission  Baptists,  on  the  contrary,  In  ad- 
dition to  being  a  **by-word  and  a  hissing,"  have 
steadily  diminished  until  now  they  are  scarcely  to 
be  found  at  all.  Some  may  adopt  the  practice, 
but  few  will  admit  the  doctrine. 

So  as  the  Karen  churches  of  Burma  have 
given  they  have  gained,  as  they  have  scattered  they 
have  found  increase,  and  as  they  have  sent  their 
missionaries  afar  to  minister  to  the  destitute  their 


110  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

own  resources  have  developed.  The  Karens  of  the 
Bassein  mission  have  their  representatives  in  dis- 
tant parts  of  northern  Burma,  and  the  Rangoon 
Karens  have  theirs  in  far-off  Siam,  and  these  have 
always  been  the  very  life  of  the  churches. 

The  writer  may,  perhaps,  be  pardoned  for  re- 
ferring specifically,  by  way  of  illustration,  to  the 
history  of  his  own  station  at  Shwegyin.  Not  long 
after  he  went  out  to  the  field  in  1893,  he  heard  one 
of  the  oldest  and  most  experienced  of  his  brethren 
speak  of  the  importance  to  the  native  churches  of 
carrying  on  the  work  of  the  gospel  outside  of  their 
own  boundaries.  This  reminded  him  of  the  story 
of  the  movement  in  America  which  has  been  out- 
lined above,  and  he  resolved  that  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible he  would  bring  to  the  attention  of  his  own 
people  some  field  which  they  might  adopt.  After 
consultation,  the  Salween  District,  with  its  head- 
quarters at  Papun,  a  territory  adjacent  to  the 
Shwegyin  field,  to  be  sure,  but  entirely  outside  the 
circle  of  the  churches,  was  chosen.  They  took  up 
the  enterprise  with  great  eagerness,  and  from  that 
time  on,  the  activities  of  the  churches  fairly  leaped 
forward.  The  zeal  for  the  outside  work  seemed  to 
impart  itself  to  their  home  work,  so  that  at  the 
same  time  that  they  took  up  the  former,  they 
opened  two  important  out-stations,  Nyaunglebin 
and  Kyaukkyi,  on  their  own  field,  points  which 
seemed  to  be  necessary  to  be  occupied  for  the  best 
prosecution  of  the  general  work.     In  1893,  the 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATION  111 

contributions  of  the  churches  for  all  objects  had 
amounted  to  about  ^ve  thousand  Rupees;  they 
rose  gradually  until,  in  1898,  they  reached  seven 
thousand  five  hundred  Rupees.  That  was  the 
year  in  which  this  home  and  foreign  mission  exten- 
sion movement  was  inaugurated.  The  next  year, 
they  rose  to  over  ten  thousand  Rupees,  the  year 
after  that  to  over  fourteen  thousand  Rupees,  and 
the  year  following  to  over  twenty  thousand  Rupees, 
nearly  a  three-fold  increase  in  three  years'  time. 
The  next  year,  they  fell  off  to  something  over  six- 
teen thousand  Rupees,  but  they  have  not  been  less 
than  twenty-five  thousand  Rupees  any  year  since. 
Meanwhile,  the  annual  additions  to  the  churches 
by  baptism  rose  from  about  one  hundred  to  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  or  two  hundred;  and, 
apparently  because  of  the  new  spirit  which  came 
upon  the  people,  the  number  of  young  men  who 
consecrated  themselves  to  the  work  of  the  gospel 
ministry  and  went  to  the  theological  seminary  at 
Insein,  for  the  purpose  of  preparing  themselves  for 
that  work,  rose  from  three  or  four  in  1893  to  be- 
tween fifteen  and  twenty  from  1906  on.  At  the 
same  time,  schools  were  built  up  at  the  out-stations 
which,  in  addition  to  the  school  at  Shwegyin,  with 
its  enrollment  of  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five,  had  enrollments  running  up  to  two 
hundred,  or  even  to  two  hundred  and  fifty.  Many 
of  the  pupils  were  from  heathen  villages  and  thus 
the  schools  became  evangelizing  agencies  reaching 


112  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

out  into  the  outlying  regions  In  a  way  which,  so 
far  as  one  can  judge,  would  not  otherwise  have 
been  possible. 

In  fact  one  Is  reminded  of  the  story  which  Is 
told  of  a  certain  sportsman.  Up  In  the  hills  of  the 
Shwegyin  District,  there  was  a  "rogue"  elephant 
for  the  destruction  of  which  the  government  had 
offered  a  reward  of  money  In  addition  to  the  tusks. 
This  sportsman  went  up  with  his  elephant  rifle  to 
hunt  the  animal.  He  found  It.  He  fired  one  shot, 
and  the  great  beast  fell,  apparently  dead;  but  to 
make  sure  the  sportsman  fired  again.  The  ele- 
phant moved  slightly.  The  sportsman  fired  a 
third  time.  The  elephant  moved  a  little  more. 
He  fired  again  and  again,  each  shot  seeming  to 
have  a  revivifying  effect  until  at  the  sixth  shot  the 
elephant  got  up  and  ran  away.  The  Karens  tell 
the  story  with  great  gusto;  how  many  "rescenslons'* 
it  has  gone  through,  It  Is  Impossible  to  say.  But 
It  Is  certain  that  the  more  hot  shot  of  foreign  mis- 
sions is  poured  into  the  churches  of  God,  anywhere 
and  in  whatever  conditions,  the  livelier  they  be- 
come. Best  of  all,  the  effort  to  carry  the  gospel  to 
those  who  have  it  not,  together  with  the  self-sacri- 
fice which  this  always  Involves,  is,  of  itself,  a  re- 
ligious experience  of  inestimable  value  to  the  people 
of  God. 

In  this  connection  may  be  mentioned  an  incident 
which,  to  the  missionary,  was  very  affecting.  The 
evangelist  at  Papun  had  died  suddenly,  and  the 


CHURCH  ORGANIZATION  113 

Karen  churches,  assembled  In  annual  session,  were 
facing  the  question  of  who  should  take  his  place. 
The  missionary  felt  that  his  successor  ought  to  be 
some  man  of  ability  and  character  who  could  be 
trusted  to  take  hold  of  the  work  and  carry  it  for- 
ward with  zeal  and  discretion;  but  he  could  think 
of  no  one  available  for  the  important  post.  Much 
to  his  surprise,  the  leaders  among  the  Karens  said 
it  must  be  the  ordained  pastor  of  one  of  the  best 
churches,  a  man  of  whom  the  missionary  had  never 
once  dared  to  think.  He  seemed  indispensable  to 
his  own  church ;  he  was  one  of  the  most  beloved  of 
the  native  pastors,  and  the  missionary  had  no 
thought  that  it  would  be  considered  possible  to  dis- 
pense with  his  services  on  the  home  field.  When, 
however,  his  name  was  suggested  by  the  Karens 
themselves,  of  course  the  missionary  could  raise 
no  objection.  It  was  not  without  a  struggle  that 
the  appointment  was  made,  for  as  soon  as  his  name 
was  mentioned,  members  of  his  church  who  were 
present  rose  and  objected,  some  of  them  angrily. 

"Why  should  you  choose  our  pastor?'*  they 
said.  "The  members  of  our  church  are  for  the 
most  part  widows  and  orphans.  Our  pastor  is  like 
a  father  to  us.  We  cannot  spare  him.  Choose 
some  one  else.  There  are  many  others."  After 
they  had  talked  a  while,  the  missionary  rose  and 
said: 

"I  do  not  wonder  that  the  members  of  the 
brother's  church  feel  this  way,  for  we  all  love 


114  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

him,  and  it  Is  indeed  as  they  say — many  of  the 
members  of  their  church  are  widows  and  orphans. 
But  now  before  we  talk  any  more  about  this  mat- 
ter, let  us  go  to  God  with  it."  Earnest  prayer  was 
offered,  and  after  the  prayer  it  was  heart-moving 
to  see  these  same  men  who  had  so  angrily  demurred 
a  few  minutes  before,  rise  and  say,  that  if  this  was 
of  the  Lord,  they  dared  not  oppose  it.  A  commit- 
tee was  appointed  to  visit  the  church,  and  give  it 
what  comfort  and  consolation  and  what  strength- 
ening of  purpose  in  the  Lord  it  was  able,  and  the 
much  loved  pastor  was  sent  forth  to  do  good  and 
acceptable  work. 


PRESENT    ATTAINMENTS    IN    TEM- 
PORAL BETTERMENT 

TOO  much  should  not  be  expected  of  the 
Karen  disciples  in  the  direction  of  temporal 
betterment.  The  process  is  slower  than  that 
of  evangehzation  and  almost  painfully  tedious. 
Economy  is  the  basis  of  true  civilization,  but  it 
takes  a  long  while  for  many  people  to  perceive  the 
fact.  It  is  evident,  however,  in  all  departments 
of  life.  Occidentals  use  chairs  because,  if  they 
sat  on  the  floor  their  clothing,  which  cannot  be 
readily  washed,  would  soon  get  soiled,  and  ruined. 
If  they  wore  sandals  instead  of  shoes,  and  could 
keep  their  floors  scrupulously  clean,  or  if  they  wore 
cheap,  washable  goods  as  do  the  East  Indians,  the 
case  would  be  different.  Men  wear  collars  and 
cuffs  to  keep  their  coats  from  being  damaged. 
The  linen  can  be  laundried,  but  the  material  of 
which  coats  are  made  cannot  be.  No  new  invention 
is  practicable  until  it  can  be  made  economical. 
Americans  are  generally  considered  extravagant 
and  wasteful.  Undoubtedly  some  are  so;  and 
with  the  vast  undeveloped  resources  of  the  coun- 
try, there  is  not  on  the  part  of  most  of  them  that 
carefulness  in  the  use  of  materials  which  will 
doubtless  become  a  necessity  as  the  country  grows 

115 


116  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

more  thickly  populated  and  produce  relatively 
scarcer.  But  that  Americans  have  the  economic 
sense,  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  they  use  more 
telephones  and  typewriters  and  employ  more  sten- 
ographers than  any  other  people  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  These  are  economizers  of  time,  and  time  Is 
economically  valuable. '  The  New  England  house- 
keeper who,  in  these  days  when  matches  are  so 
cheap,  still  rolls  firelighters  Is  not  practicing  real 
economy,  unless  owing  to  special  circumstances, 
her  time  is  of  no  account.  Even  when  rolled,  it 
Is  cheaper  for  most  people  to  use  matches.  In 
Chicago,  on  a  dve  cent  fare,  one  may  travel  forty 
miles  and  cover  the  distance  In  a  couple  of  hours. 
In  the  native  Burmese  cart  as  many  days  would  be 
required  to  cover  the  same  distance  and  the  ex- 
pense would  be  thirty  times  as  great.  Labor  In 
the  East  is  commonly  supposed  to  be  cheap.  Aside 
from  a  few  minor  employments,  it  Is  cheap  only 
in  wage;  In  measure  of  achievement  In  the  large, 
it  Is  expensive,  for  there,  time-saving  devices  are 
wanting.  Of  course  in  all  civilization  the  element 
of  taste  comes  in,  adding  beauty  and  attractive- 
ness to  what  would  otherwise  be  bald  and  ugly, 
but  the  basis  is  still  economy. 

Barbarism  Is  always  wasteful.  Uncultivated 
land  will  not  support  as  much  life  as  cultivated 
land.  Two  acres  of  pasture  are  considered  suf- 
ficient for  the  keep  of  a  cow;  the  amount  of  tilled 
land  required  for  the  same  purpose  Is  much  less. 


TEMPORAL  BETTERMENT  117 

From  the  accounts  of  some  travelers,  one  might 
suppose  that  in  India  and  Burma  a  tiger  lurks 
under  nearly  every  bush,  but  calculation  shows  it 
is  a  physical  impossibility  that  there  should  be  more 
than  about  one  to  a  square  mile  of  jungle  land,  and 
probably  the  proportion  is  much  less  than  that. 
Supposing  a  tiger  to  need  for  its  sustenance  one 
deer  a  week^ — which  seems  not  excessive  consid- 
ering that  it  will  seldom  eat  the  entire  carcase — 
it  appears  that,  even  if  jungle  land  were  as  pro- 
ductive as  pasture  land,  a  tiger  which  carefully 
conserved  its  resources  and  allowed  the  hinds  to 
breed  and  keep  up  the  stock  would  need  a  range 
of  at  least  one  hundred  and  four  acres.  But  jungle 
land  is  not  more  than  from  a  fifth  to  a  tenth  as 
productive  as  pasture  land,  and  it  is  probable  that 
in  most  parts  of  Burma  and  India  a  tiger  must 
have  a  range  of  from  Rvq  to  ten  square  miles.  If 
it  frequents  the  fringes  of  human  cultivation  where 
it  can  get  an  occasional  cow  or  calf,  it  may  not 
require  quite  so  large  a  range,  but  its  hold  upon 
such  preserves  would  be  very  precarious,  for,  even 
without  shot  guns  and  rifles,  the  natives  have  ways 
of  disposing  of  maurauders  of  that  kind.  With 
a  large  bamboo  laid  in  a  horizontal  position  and 
bent  to  its  utmost  tension  by  the  strength  of  several 
men,  they  will  set  a  trap,  sprung  by  a  fine  thread 
or  fiber  of  tree  bark,  which  will  drive  a  spear 
straight  through  a  tiger. 

But  the  Karen  does  not  perceive  the  meanmg 


118  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

of  all  this.  He  observes  that  civilized  people  have 
a  great  many  things,  and  he  naturally  infers  that 
civilization  consists  in  having  many  things  instead 
of  consisting,  as  it  really  does  in  knowing  how  to 
use  the  things  one  has.  So  far  as  introducing 
the  mere  externals  of  western  civilization  is  con- 
cerned, merchants  and  traders  are  doing  a  part 
quite  as  important  as  that  of  the  missionary.  As 
a  result  the  people  are  becoming  more  industrious 
than  formerly.  The  desire  to  possess  this  and 
that — ^the  fabrics  imported  from  England,  sew- 
ing machines,  and,  recently,  music  boxes  and  vic- 
trolas — all  this,  combined  with  the  fact  that  under 
British  rule  the  country  has  been  rapidly  brought 
under  cultivation  and  so  withdrawn  from  general 
use,  has  wrought  a  great  change.  The  writer  well 
remembers,  when  he  was  a  lad  of  eight  or  nine, 
going  with  his  father  to  see  Burmese  sawyers  about 
getting  out  timber.  At  that  time  there  were  no 
steam  sawmills,  and  every  piece  of  timber  for  the 
house  had  to  be  sawed  out  by  hand.  Sawpits  were 
dug,  the  logs  rolled  into  position,  and  one  man 
above  and  one  below  would  work  the  saw  up  and 
down.  The  pay  was  good  for  the  time,  but  then 
the  wants  of  the  people  were  few,  and  conditions 
of  life  easy.  It  was  possible  to  go  out  almost  any- 
where, take  up  a  piece  of  land,  cultivate  it  and  raise 
a  crop  of  rice;  consequently  it  was  most  difficult 
to  get  the  workmen  to  do  anything.  Now-a-days 
the  situation  is  much  different.    Sawmills  have  for 


TEMPORAL  BETTERMENT  119 

the  most  part  taken  the  place  of  the  old  sawpit, 
but  when,  occasionally,  one  must  still  resort  to  the 
latter,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  getting  the  men  to 
do  the  work  and  to  do  it  in  good  time.  The  people 
of  today  are  much  more  industrious  than  were  the 
people  of  fifty  years  ago  both  because  the  condi- 
tions of  life  are  more  difficult  and  because  the 
standard  of  living  is  higher.  This  is  probably 
true  throughout  the  Orient,  and  the  slur  upon  the 
oriental  that  he  is  lazy  is  becoming  less  and  less 
applicable. 

The  mere  getting  of  things,  however,  the  lust 
for  possessing  modern  conveniences  and  equip- 
ments, the  adoption  of  western  civilization  out  of 
hand,  by  the  native  of  Burma  or  India,  is  far  from 
desirable,  inasmuch  as  it  is  not  adapted  to  their 
surroundings.  The  conditions  of  living  among 
the  people  there  have  grown  up  in  large  part  as 
a  result  of  their  environment,  and  in  order  to  have 
a  right  understanding  of  the  problem  of  civilizing 
them  one  must  be  well-versed  in  these  conditions. 
Perhaps  the  manner  of  life  of  the  Karens  cannot 
be  better  illustrated  than  by  the  story  which  is 
sometimes  told  of  Naw  Thoo  and  Naw  Wah. 
Naw  Wah,  which  means  Miss  White,  was  a  little 
Christian  girl  who  had  lived  for  several  years 
with  a  missionary  lady;  Naw  Thoo,  meaning 
Miss  Black,  was  a  heathen  child  who  had  always 
lived  out  in  the  jungle.  One  day  the  latter  came 
to  the  city  and  met  Naw  Wah.    Naw  Wah  asked 


120  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

her  If  she  would  like  to  see  the  missionary's  house, 
and  she  said  she  would.  She  had  never  been  in 
such  a  house  before.  It  was  not  a  very  grand 
house,  for  it  was  more  like  a  barn  than  anything 
else  one  sees  In  America,  as  no  lathing  and  plaster- 
ing were  used — there  was  only  the  single  thickness 
of  boarding  on  the  outside,  and  all  the  timbers  of 
the  house  showed  out  In  the  room.  Houses  there 
must  be  made  very  open,  and  the  walls  thin  so  as 
to  cool  off  rapidly  at  night.  But,  unlike  American 
barns,  the  house  was  built  up  on  posts,  like  stilts, 
from  eight  to  ten  or  twelve  feet  above  the  ground. 
This  is  the  general  practice  in  Burma,  partly  be- 
cause of  the  dampness  of  the  ground  during  the 
rainy  season,  and  partly  because  it  is  a  custom 
handed  down  from  the  time  when  the  country  was 
much  more  sparsely  settled  than  now  and  tigers 
might  come  prowling  about.  In  spite  of  this  pre- 
caution, snakes  still  get  into  the  houses  as  well  as 
centipedes,  scorpions,  lizards  and  other  minor 
pests.  Naw  Thoo's  house  in  which  she  lived  when 
at  home  was  built  entirely  of  bamboo.  The  countryj 
produces  a  great  variety  of  bamboos  of  different 
sizes.  The  builder  digs  a  hole  in  the  ground,  and 
sets  up  in  it  a  large  bamboo,  perhaps  five  or  six 
inches  in  diameter,  for  the  post  of  the  house.  Then 
he  takes  a  kind  of  knife — his  only  tool — with  a 
heavy  blade  about  a  foot  and  a  half  In  length,  and 
cuts  a  hole  In  each  side  of  the  bamboo.  This 
makes  a  mortise  in  which  may  be  placed  a  smaller 


IDOL    HOUSE,   THARAWADDY,   BURMA 


KAREN    HOUSES 


TEMPORAL  BETTERMENT  121 

bamboo  that  answers  for  a  joist.  Strips  of  the 
same  material  about  an  inch  wide,  lashed  down  to 
the  joists  half  an  inch  apart  by  means  of  a  kind 
of  rope  made  from  the  bark  of  a  tree,  provide  the 
floor.  By  taking  a  large  bamboo,  splitting  down 
one  side,  opening  it  out  and  knocking  out  the  knots, 
a  kind  of  boarding  is  made  for  the  sides  of  the 
building.  Again  bamboos  of  the  same  size  are 
split  in  two,  and,  after  the  knots  are  cut  out,  are 
used  for  the  roof,  alternate  pieces  having  the 
outer  curve  up  and  the  intermediate  pieces  having 
the  curve  down. 

Naw  Thoo  saw  the  lady's  house  made  of  timber, 
and  wondered  at  it.  She  was  shown  into  the  sitting 
room,  and  was  puzzled  to  know  what  the  chairs 
were  for.  Nah  Wah  actually  had  to  sit  down  in 
one  to  show  her,  for  when  she  was  at  home  she 
always  sat  on  the  floor.  She  had  never  seen  a 
table  before,  since  in  her  house  a  table  would 
have  been  of  no  use.  What  could  a  person  sitting 
on  the  floor  do  with  a  table?  She  was  shown  the 
dining  room,  with  the  table  linen,  the  dishes,  the 
knives  and  forks  and  spoons  arranged  on  the  din- 
ing table.  She  had  never  seen  anything  of  the 
kind  before.  At  home  she  sat  on  the  floor  to  eat. 
A  large  tray  of  wood,  painted  red,  would  be  set 
down,  cooked  rice  would  be  placed  in  the  sides  of 
the  tray  around,  and  in  the  center  would  be  put 
a  bowl  of  dressing  to  go  with  the  rice.  This  con- 
sisted of  rotten  fish,  that  is,  fish  deliberated  rotted 


122  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

for  the  purpose.  The  members  of  the  family  would 
sit  down  on  the  floor  about  the  tray,  one  of  them 
would  dip  out  some  of  the  dressing  and  put  it  on 
the  rice  in  front  of  him,  return  the  spoon  to  its 
place  In  the  bowl,  mix  the  fish  and  rice  with  his 
fingers,  make  the  whole  into  a  ball,  and  put  it  into 
his  mouth. 

Then  Naw  Thoo  was  shown  the  lady's  sleeping 
room  with  the  bed,  the  mattress,  the  coverings  and 
the  pillow.  All  these  were  quite  new  to  her,  for 
when  she  was  at  home  she  slept  on  the  floor,  and 
if  she  wanted  a  pillow,  she  would  take  a  stick  of 
wood  or  a  large  bamboo  and  rest  her  neck  upon 
it,  letting  her  head  hang  over  on  the  other  side. 
Suddenly,  as  she  was  looking  about,  Naw  Thoo 
gave  a  terrible  shriek,  and  rushed  out  of  the 
house  as  if  she  had  been  shot  out  of  a  gun.  Nah 
Wah  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  it,  but  after 
a  time  managed  to  catch  up  with  her  and  ask  her 
what  was  the  matter. 

**Why,"  said  Naw  Thoo,  "the  lady  keeps  the 
devil  in  her  house." 

"Oh,  no,  she  doesn't,"  replied  Naw  Wah,  "I 
have  lived  there  a  long  time  and  I  know  she 
doesn't." 

"But  I  have  seen  him  with  my  own  eyes,"  said 
Naw  Thoo.  Finally,  with  much  persuasion,  Naw 
Wah  managed  to  get  Naw  Thoo  to  go  back  to  the 
house  and  show  her  where  she  had  seen  the  devil. 
She  stole  up  the  steps,  through  the  sitting  room 


TEMPORAL  BETTERMENT  123 

to  the  door  of  the  bedroom,  and  pointed,  saying: 
"There,  th — th — there  is  where  the  lady  keeps 
the  devil."  She  indicated  the  mirror  hanging  on 
the  wall.  She  had  seen  herself  In  It  and  thought 
it  surely  must  be  the  devil.  This  Is  not  much  to 
be  wondered  at,  for  she  seldom  washed  her  face, 
still  more  seldom  combed  her  hair,  and  she  prob- 
ably never  washed  her  clothes,  for  the  heathen 
Karens  have  a  saying  that,  if  you  wash  your 
clothes,  a  tiger  will  eat  you.  They  do  not  want 
the  tigers  to  eat  them,  so  they  do  not  wash  their 
clothes  from  the  time  they  are  made  until  they 
fairly  rot  off  their  backs.  Naw  Thoo  had  been 
with  Naw  Wah  who  kept  herself  so  nice  and  sleek 
and  clean,  and  she  had  forgotten  about  herself,  so 
that  when  she  saw  herself  In  the  mirror,  she 
thought  it  must  surely  be  the  devil. 

The  writer  has  frequently  told  this  story  to 
Sunday  School  children  In  America,  because  it 
gives,  in  brief  compass,  an  idea  of  the  manner  of 
life  of  the  Karen  people.  He  usually  closes  by 
asking  what  they  come  to  Sunday  School  for,  and 
says:  "We  come  to  study  the  bible,  and  learn 
about  God  and  about  Jesus.  That  is  all  very 
good,  but  there  is  one  thing  more  we  need  to  learn^ 
without  which  all  the  rest  is  of  no  use.  We  need 
to  learn  about  ourselves,  for  the  bible  Is  a  mirror 
in  which  we  may  see  ourselves  as  God  sees  us,  and 
if  we  see  ourselves  as  God  sees  us,  we  shall  feel  not 
unlike  Naw  Thoo — as  if  we  had  seen  the  evil  one 


124  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

himself.  But  when  Naw  Thoo  learned  that  she 
had  really  seen  herself,  and  not  the  devil  at  all, 
she  wanted  to  wash  up  so  that  she  might  be  like 
Nah  Wah.  And  if  we  look  into  our  own  hearts 
and  see  ourselves  as  God  sees  us,  we  shall  want 
to  be  washed  in  the  precious  blood  of  Jesus  which 
cleanses  from  all  sin." 

The  writer  has  related  the  story  here  as  he  has 
often  told  it  to  Sunday  School  children  in  America, 
and  of  course  it  contains  some  elements  which  are 
not  important  to  the  subject  in  hand;  but  from 
this  description  it  may  perhaps  seem  that  it  ought 
to  be  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  to  improve  the 
conditions  of  these  people,  yet  it  is  in  reality  no 
light  matter.  On  the  plains,  where  the  places  of 
abode  are  fairly  accessible  to  modern  workmen, 
houses  of  timber  are  gradually  being  introduced, 
but  over  a  large  part  of  the  country  bamboos  fur- 
nish the  only  material  which  is  available  for  the 
construction  of  houses.  Indeed,  Karens  find  bam- 
boos useful  in  such  a  variety  of  ways  that  they 
wonder  how  white  people  get  on  without  them. 
Bamboos  grow  everywhere.  They  are  light  and 
exceedingly  strong.  Properly  shored  up  with  bam- 
boo struts,  a  bamboo  house  up  in  the  mountains 
will  stand  the  wildest  kind  of  storm.  It  lasts  only 
two  or  three  years,  but  from  the  hygienic  stand- 
point this  is  an  advantage,  since  it  gives  the  people 
a  new  house  to  live  in. 

Any  one  would  say  at  once  that  the  eating  of 


TEMPORAL  BETTERMENT  125 

rotten  fish  ought  to  be  done  away  with;  but  even 
that  is  not  so  simple  a  matter.  Fish  constitute 
one  of  the  chief  products  of  the  country.  Burma 
has  two  seasons  only,  a  rainy  and  a  dry.  For  six 
months  there  is  no  rain,  and  the  ground  becomes 
parched  and  dry.  Then  for  six  months  there  is 
rain,  and  the  rivers  rise  and  flood  their  banks  and 
extend  like  great  lakes  on  every  side.  The  rainfall 
varies  from  eighty  or  ninety  inches  to  a  hundred 
and  twenty  inches  in  the  vicinity  of  Rangoon, 
and  from  two  hundred  to  two  hundred  and  fifty 
inches  in  Maulmein,  and  there  is  an  even 
higher  rainfall  in  other  places.  When  the 
writer  is  at  Nyaunglebin,  one  of  his  stations, 
during  the  dry  season,  he  is  six  miles  from 
any  running  water,  but  during  the  rainy  sea- 
son, he  can  fish  out  of  his  window.  For  during 
the  rainy  season  the  fish  go  up  the  streams  and 
cover  all  the  land.  This  is  probably  the  breeding 
season  for  many  varieties  of  fish;  but  there  comes 
a  time  when  instinct  tells  them  they  must  return 
to  the  lower  waters,  and  they  begin  to  make  their 
way  down  stream.  Then  men  put  weirs  across 
the  streams  and  catch  them  in  great  quantities. 
Those  which  are  detained  in  little  lakes  and  shal- 
lows, here  and  there,  are  caught  by  means  of  nets. 
Thus  at  this  season  fish  are  very  abundant.  They 
are  dressed  a  little,  and  placed  on  platforms  in  the 
sun  where  they  are  allowed  to  swell  up  to  about 
twice  their  original  size.     Then  they  are  taken 


126  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

and  put  down  in  large  earthen  vats  In  layers,  with 
salt  between  the  layers,  making  a  sort  of  pickle, 
and  are  allowed  to  remain  for  from  three  to  six 
months.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  bones  and  fins 
have  become  so  dissolved  that  they  are  one  Indis- 
tinguishable mass;  of  course  the  odor  Is  reeking. 
But  In  this  condition  the  fish  will  keep  for  a  con- 
siderable period.  It  win  spoil  In  time,  although 
how  It  becomes  more  spoiled  than  It  already  is, 
according  to  western  Ideas,  It  is  hard  to  Imagine. 
Undoubtedly  some  chemical  change  takes  place 
which  renders  it  unfit  for  food.  To  western  people, 
the  very  thought  of  eating  this  preparation  Is  nau- 
seatii^;  but  the  Karens  learn  to  eat  It  with  relish, 
and  when  anything  is  said  about  It,  ask  if  white 
people  do  not  eat  rank-smelling  cheese.  It  is  dif- 
ficult to  see  how  In  that  tropical  climate  this  great 
supply  of  fish  could  be  made  available  for  the 
mass  of  the  people  the  year  around,  unless  it  were 
prepared  in  some  such  way. 

Of  course  in  the  matter  of  cleanliness,  better- 
ment Is  comparatively  easy.  Certainly  clothes  need 
not  be  left  unwashed  until  they  rot  off  the  back; 
and  yet  when  one  considers  the  conditions  in  which 
the  people  live,  and  must  live,  It  is  not  difficult  to 
make  allowance  for  a  considerable  degree  of  un- 
cleanllness.  During  the  dry  season  upon  the  plains, 
the  ground  is  baked  hard,  and  when  it  Is  beaten 
up  by  the  heavy  cartwheels,  it  becomes  a  fine  dust 
which  fills  the  air  and  sifts  into  the  houses  every- 


TEMPORAL  BETTERMENT  127 

where,  for  the  heat  of  the  climate  makes  it  im- 
possible to  close  the  houses.  They  must  have 
ample  openings  for  ventilation.  During  the  rainy 
season,  on  the  other  hand,  whenever  the  people 
step  out  of  doors,  they  may  have  to  go  in  mud 
up  to  the  ankle,  and  between  the  mud  of  the  rainy 
season  and  the  dust  of  the  dry,  it  is  difficult  to 
keep  nicely  clean.  Moreover,  in  the  bamboo  houses, 
at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  there  is  a  small  insect, 
much  like  the  weavil,  which  gradually  eats  up  the 
fibre  of  the  bamboo  and  scatters  a  fine  dust  through 
all  the  house. 

The  chewing  of  betel  nut  is  another  matter  in 
which  it  is  difficult  to  bring  about  a  rapid  change, 
although  it  is  one  of  the  most  disgusting  of  habits. 
The  betel  nut  itself  is  the  fruit  of  a  kind  of  palm, 
of  surpassing  beauty.  The  fruit  grows  in  clusters  at 
the  top.  The  nut  has  an  astringent  or  puckery 
taste,  and  it  Is  said  will  tan  leather;  nevertheless, 
if  used  alone,  it  would  probably  be  innocent 
enough.  With  it  is  combined  the  leaf  of  a  vine 
which  the  people  cultivate.  This  leaf  is  about  as 
large  as  that  of  the  beach  and  of  similar  shape, 
but  is  thicker  and  has  a  slightly  spicy  taste.  The 
user  of  the  betel  nut  takes  one  of  these  leaves  on 
the  palm  of  his  hand,  smears  moist  lime  over  it, 
on  the  lime  places  the  betel  nut  which  he  has  previ- 
ously sliced  up  into  small  pieces,  rolls  the  whole 
up  into  a  quid  and  chews  it.  The  lime  seems  to  be 
required  to  make  it  palatable.    The  flow  of  saliva 


128  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

is  profuse,  and  the  custom  Is  even  more  filthy  than 
the  chewing  of  tobacco.  The  expectoration  is  red 
in  color,  and  care  is  required  to  prevent  Its  over- 
flowing from  the  mouth  and  discoloring  the  chin. 
The  teeth  soon  turn  black,  and  ultimately  drop  out. 
The  writer  once  made  a  long  tour  into  Northern 
Siam  to  visit  some  Karen  churches  which  were 
gathered  there  many  years  ago.  On  the  way  he 
passed  through  Chlengmai,  one  of  the  principal 
stations  of  the  American  Presbyterian  Mission, 
and  formed  the  acquaintance  of  a  medical  mission- 
ary there.  The  doctor  had  been  asked  by  a  Siam- 
ese prince  to  come  and  extract  a  tooth  for  him, 
and  was  so  kind  as  to  Invite  the  writer  to  go  along. 
The  two  went  together  to  the  palace  and  were 
ushered  into  the  prince's  presence.  The  prince 
pointed  out  to  the  doctor  the  obstreperous  tooth 
which  he  wished  to  have  drawn,  and  asked  him  If  it 
would  hurt  any.  The  doctor  examined  the  tooth 
and  said  he  thought  not.  The  prince,  however, 
was  not  satisfied,  and,  as  there  was  a  prince  of 
lower  rank  present,  asked  the  doctor  to  extract  a 
tooth  for  that  man  first,  with  the  understanding 
that  if  it  did  not  hurt  him,  he  himself  would  sub- 
mit to  the  operation.  The  doctor  examined  the 
second  prince's  mouth  until  he  found  a  tooth  which 
was  about  in  the  same  condition  as  that  of  the 
first  prince,  and  drew  it.  The  second  prince's 
face  was  still  placid,  showing  no  evidence  of  pain. 
The  first  prince  asked  if  it  hurt  any,  and  he  said: 


TEMPORAL  BETTERMENT  129 

"No,  it  did  not." 

"Well,  then,"  said  the  first  prince,  "I  am  ready 
to  have  my  tooth  drawn."  The  doctor  said  after- 
wards that  the  tooth  was  barely  hanging  by  the 
skin,  that  the  lime  with  the  betel  nut  which  the 
prince  was  accustomed  to  chew  had  undoubtedly 
dissolved  away  the  bony  process  which  holds  the 
tooth  in  place,  so  there  was  nothing  to  which  it 
could  cling. 

Users  of  betel  nut  often  suffer  greatly  from 
various  forms  of  dyspepsia,  some  of  them  being 
most  painful  and  distressing.  But  the  habit  is 
almost  universal  and  its  hold  is  very  strong,  so  that 
it  is  difficult  for  those  who  once  become  addicted  to 
it  to  give  it  up.  Old  men  who  have  lost  their 
teeth  have  little  brass  mortars  with  sharp-edged 
pestles  with  which  they  manage  to  crunch  up  the 
mass,  then  put  it  in  their  mouths  and  mumble  it 
with  their  gums.  Some  say  that  unless  they  have 
their  betel  nut,  their  food  does  not  taste  good,  and 
probably  it  becomes  in  time  almost  indispensable, 
as  some  people  claim  that  they  cannot  get  on  with- 
out their  tobacco.  There  seems  little  doubt  that 
the  prevalence  of  the  habit  is  due  in  part  to  the 
insipidity  and  sameness  of  most  of  the  native  food. 

The  living  conditions  of  the  common  people  in 
Burma  are  not,  then,  so  easy  to  be  improved  as 
one*  might  think.  The  problem  is  a  difficult  one, 
and  a  long  time  must  intervene  before  a  really 
worth-while  indigenous  civilization  can  be  devel- 


130  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

oped.  But  even  though  the  outward  forms  of  civ- 
ilization may  be  wanting,  Christianity  undoubtedly 
implants  in  the  hearts  of  its  followers  the  seeds 
of  a  genuine  culture  which  will  ultimately  find  ways 
of  expression.  As  has  already  been  pointed  out, 
when  a  Karen  is  converted,  he  wants  first  of  all 
to  get  an  education,  and  then  he  wants  to  improve 
his  physical  surroundings.  Reference  has  been 
made  to  the  zeal  and  devotion  of  many  of  the  early 
pastors  and  their  sagacity  in  seizing  the  opportu- 
nities which  opened  out  before  them  upon  the 
British  occupation  of  the  country.  Some  of  these 
men  took  up  extensive  tracts  of  land,  rallied  their 
people  about  them,  and  had  them  bring  the  land 
under  cultivation,  thus  establishing  many  flourish- 
ing settlements  in  place  of  the  shifting  abodes  to 
which  the  Karens  had  formerly  been  accustomed. 
Some  of  them  dug  extensive  systems  of  irrigating 
ditches,  for  the  cultivation  of  special  crops  on  land 
which  was  unsuitable  for  other  purposes,  and  thus 
laid  the  basis  for  later  prosperity,  enriching  not 
only  themselves  but  also  their  people.  One  still 
marvels  at  what  was  accomplished  by  many  of 
these  men.  Karens  have  told  the  writer  that  when 
his  father  first  went  among  them,  few  owned  so 
much  as  a  buffalo,  and  when  they  needed  a  cart, 
the  householders  in  a  whole  village  would  have 
to  club  together  to  buy  one.  Now  herds  of  buf- 
faloes are  seen  grazing  about  their  villages,  there 
is  a  cart  under  every  house,  and  a  few  of  the 


TEMPORAL  BETTERMENT  131 

people  have  Incomes  which  would  enable  even  a 
white  man  to  live  in  comfort — all  very  largely  the 
result  of  native  foresight  and  initiative. 

In  some  parts  Karens  live  in  a  kind  of  commu- 
nity house,  but  when  they  become  Christians,  they 
want,  for  the  sake  of  privacy,  to  live  in  separate 
houses.    Christian  villages  are  cleaner  than  heathen 
villages;  on  this  account  they  often  escape  epi- 
demics of  cholera  and  other  diseases  to  which  their 
heathen  neighbors  are  subject.     More  and  more 
the  disciples  are  coming  to  feel  that  the  chewing 
of  betel  nut  is  not  befitting  to  them  as  Christians, 
and  are  not  only  discarding  its  use  but  ceasing  its 
cultivation,  although  some  of  them  have  their  liv- 
ing by  it,  and,  hke  the  raising  of  tobacco  in  Amer- 
ica, it  brings  them  a  larger  return  than  would  any- 
thing else.     Improved  styles  of  clothing  are  being 
adopted,  dwelling  houses  made  more  attractive; 
and  a  greater  variety  in  food,  as  well  as  a  more 
wholesome  diet,  is  being  sought. 

Meanwhile  progress  has  been  made  in  other 
directions.  Karens  have  risen  to  positions  of  dis- 
tinction and  honor;  some  are  forest  officers,  in- 
spectors of  schools,  commanders  of  military  police 
and  judges  of  courts.  A  few  have  become  bar- 
risters, some  doctors,  while  many  are  teachers.  A 
Karen  has  recently  been  appointed  a  member  of  the 
Lieutenant  Governor's  council,  the  highest  honor 
within  the  power  of  the  local  government  to  confer 
on  a  native  of  the  country.     Some  of  them  read 


132  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

Shakespeare  understandingly.  One  has  translated 
The  Merchant  of  Venice  into  the  Karen  language. 
Many  are  fine  singers.  At  the  world^s  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E. 
Convention  in  Agra,  the  Karen  choir  commanded 
universal  praise.  In  fact  the  Christian  Karens  in 
general  have  developed  a  remarkable  gift  of  song. 
The  native  music  is  by  no  means  so  pretentious  as 
is  that  of  the  Burmans.  The  latter  with  their 
trills  and  runs,  might  almost  rival  the  operatic 
singer  of  the  west,  but  their  voices  are  utterly  lack- 
ing in  musical  quality.  The  tone  is  a  shriek  or  a 
yell,  formed  in  an  entirely  different  manner  from 
our  singing  tone.  The  native  singing  of  the  Karens, 
on  the  other  hand,  ordinarily  covers  a  range  of  only 
a  few  notes  but,  while  the  quality  is  not  very  good, 
at  least  it  is  not  raucous.  A  few  native  airs  are 
still  sung  by  the  Christians,  suitable  hymns  having 
been  composed  to  go  with  them.  They  are  weird 
and  of  pleasing  melody.  For  the  rest,  the  Chris- 
tian Karens,  unlike  the  Indian  Christians  who  have 
largely  retained  their  own  airs,  have  adopted  west- 
ern tunes.  In  the  average  congregation,  even  in 
far-off  jungle  villages,  every  one  will  be  singing; 
and  the  Karen  Christian  may  not  have  a  bible,  but 
he  is  almost  sure  to  have  a  hymn  book.  This  won- 
drous gift  of  song  goes  far  to  compensate  for  other 
deficiencies,  especially  when  it  is  remembered  that 
among  these  people  is  to  be  found  an  ever  increas- 
ing number  of  those  who  are  fine  and  companion- 
able in  every  way,  fitted  to  grace  any  circle. 


KI 


THE  CONSERVATION  OF  THE  KAREN 
RACE  AS  A  BY-PRODUCT 

PROBABLY  most  missionaries  to  the  Karens 
have  supposed  that  they  were  a  decadent 
race,  or  at  least  that  they  were  losing  their 
language  and  their  distinguishing  racial  character- 
istics. It  was  feared  that  they  were  rapidly  be- 
coming Burmanized.  Many  of  them  speak  the 
Burmese  language  as  fluently  as  their  own,  and 
there  are  some  who  use  nothing  else,  having  quite 
forgotten  their  mother  tongue.  This  tendency  has 
seemed  so  strong  that  many  have  expected  the  Ka- 
ren language  to  disappear  entirely  in  the  course  of 
a  few  generations,  if  not  within  a  few  decades.  But 
on  consulting  the  last  government  census  report  of 
Burma  the  writer  was  greatly  surprised  to  learn 
that  these  fears  are  groundless.  The  figures  given 
In  the  census  prove  that,  so  far  from  being  a  deca- 
dent race,  the  Karens  are  showing  signs  of  marked 
virility.  Not  so  very  long  since,  they  stood  fourth 
among  the  races  of  Burma  in  numerical  impor- 
tance, not  only  the  Burmese,  but  also  the  Takings 
and  Shans  taking  precedence  over  them.  Now,  on 
the  other  hand,  they  stand  second,  the  Takings 

133 


134  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

and  Shans  having  been  outdistanced.  During  the 
ten  year  period  covered  by  the  census,  while  the 
population  of  the  province  as  a  whole  Increased 
from  10,490,624  to  12,115,217,  or  fifteen  per 
cent,  and  the  Burmese  population  from  7,437,363 
to  8,317,842  or  about  twelve  per  cent,  the  number 
of  persons  actually  speaking  the  different  dialects 
of  the  Karen  language  rose  from  881,290  to 
1,067,363,  an  advance  of  over  twenty-one  per  cent 
Part  of  this  increase  has  been  due  to  the  Inclusion 
of  dialects  or  tribes  which  were  not  formerly  com- 
prised in  the  census  area.  But  a  reference  to  the 
statistics  of  the  Sgaw  and  Pwo  Karen  tribes  alone, 
which  were  not  affected  by  changes  in  the  census, 
indicates  that  they  show  practically  the  same  rate 
of  increase,  the  number  of  those  actually  speaking 
these  dialects  having  risen  during  the  period  named 
from  704,835  to  850,756. 

But  of  peculiar  interest  is  the  comment  of  the 
Superintendent  of  the  Census,  Mr.  C.  Morgan 
Webb.  Referring  to  the  Karens  as  a  whole,  he 
says: 

"In  the  midst  of  communities  who  have  readily 
amalgamated  with  whatever  tribes  and  races  hap- 
pened to  be  in  their  immediate  vicinity,  the  Karens 
alone  have  remained  isolated  and  self-contained. 
The  ready  reception  they  have  given  to  the  teach- 
ings of  Christianity  has  tended  to  strengthen  their 
individuality  as  a  racial  group,  and  to  widen  the 
differences  existing  between  them  and  the  remain- 


A  BY-PRODUCT  135 

\, 

ing  Indigenous  races  of  the  province.  While  the 
Takings,  at  one  time  supreme  over  the  whole  del- 
taic portion  of  Burma,  are  being  absorbed  by  the 
Burmese,  there  is  no  suggestion  that  any  such 
absorption,  or  even  that  any  amalgamation  between 
the  Burmese  and  the  Karen  races  is  within  the 
range  of  possibility." 

Here,  then,  is  presented  the  phenomenon  of  a 
race  which  a  hundred  years  ago,  under  the  heel  of 
oppression,  was  probably  no  more  than  holding  its 
own,  if  indeed  it  was  not  in  danger  of  actual  ex- 
tinction, now  steadily  advancing  in  numbers  until 
It  has  outdistanced  all  the  other  races  of  Burma 
except  the  Burmese  themselves.  And  this  increase 
is  ascribed  by  so  impartial  an  observer  as  the  sup- 
erintendent of  the  census  to  the  Influence  of  Chris- 
tianity. The  case  is  even  stronger  than  Mr.  Webb 
puts  It.  For  In  another  place,  writing  of  the 
Sgaws  and  Pwos,  the  two  leading  Karen  tribes,  he 
says: 

"There  Is  a  tendency  for  the  Pwo  dialect  to 
give  place  to  the  Sgaw,  but  the  figures  recorded 
do  not  enable  the  strength  of  this  tendency  to  be 
measured."  One  might  perhaps  infer  from  this 
language  that  the  Sgaw  Is  supplanting  the  Pwo  in 
the  sense  that  those  formerly  speaking  Pwo  are 
now  speaking  Sgaw.  But  such  Is  not  the  fact. 
Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  situation  know 
full  well  that  the  Pwos  are  not  becoming  Sgaws; 
they  are  rather  being  Burmanlzed,  and  so  lost  to 


136  A  STAR  m  THE  EAST 

the  Karen  race  altogether.  The  tendency  for  the 
Pwos  to  give  place  to  the  Sgaws  must  therefore 
mean  an  absolute  increase  on  the  part  of  the  Sgaws 
over  and  above  the  rate  of  increase  of  the  Karens 
as  a  whole.  This  is  the  more  significant  because  it 
is  among  the  Sgaws  that  Christian  missions  have 
been  chiefly  successful. 

For  a  full  appreciation  of  these  statements  the 
racial  conditions  existing  in  Burma  need  to  be 
borne  in  mind.  Burma  is  situated  near  the  head 
of  those  spurs  and  lesser  ranges  which,  beginning 
in  the  eastern  part  of  the  Himalayas,  extend  fan- 
like, in  a  south-easterly  direction,  to  the  borders 
of  the  continent  of  Asia  at  Singapore  and  other 
points,  and  crop  up  beyond  in  the  partly  submerged 
mountain-islands  of  the  Andamans  and  the  East 
Indian  Archipelago.  Three  of  these  ranges,  the 
Eastern,  Middle  and  Western  Yomas,  pass  through 
Burma  itself.  In  the  northern  part  of  the  coun- 
try, other  ranges  cross  and  intersect  in  such  a  way 
as  to  divide  the  face  of  the  land  into  numerous 
little  valleys.  There  have  been  several  invasions 
of  Burma  by  immigrants  from  China  on  the  north, 
but  these  have  not  been,  like  the  early  migrations 
of  barbarian  hordes  into  Europe,  when  the  on- 
coming hosts  surged  in  like  a  great  flood.  The 
mountain  barriers  have  prevented  that.  Rather 
these  invasions  have  been  like  a  mere  spill,  the 
dashing  of  spray,  a  trickle  over  the  passes  of  the 
mountains,  at  numerous  periods  and  at  various  in- 


A  BY-PRODUCT  137 

tervals.  Many  of  these  waters  lodged  in  little  val- 
leys here  and  there,  and  formed  so  many  separate 
communities,  sometimes  only  half  a  dozen  small 
villages  constituting  a  tribe  with  its  own  peculiar 
dialect.  It  is  only  those  tribes  which  in  some  way 
push  on,  or  are  thrust  on,  to  the  more  open  coun- 
try to  the  south  that  can  ever  become  numerically 
important.  No  fewer  than  sixty-five  indigenous 
languages  and  dialects  are  named  in  the  govern- 
ment census,  and  the  list  is  by  no  means  exhaustive. 
In  olden  times,  these  races  and  tribes  were  com- 
paratively stable,  but  recently,  with  a  strong  gov- 
ernment over  the  whole  country,  improved  com- 
munications and  increased  trade,  nearly  all  of  them 
are  in  a  state  of  flux.  The  tendency  is  for  the 
smaller  tribes  to  be  swallowed  up  in  the  larger. 
The  census  indicates  that  of  the  sixty-five  languages 
and  dialects  listed,  no  fewer  than  seventeen  showed 
a  decrease  in  number,  three  of  these  actually  be- 
coming extinct.  Of  the  rest,  fifteen  have  increased 
chiefly  because  they  have  only  recently  been 
brought  into  the  area  covered  by  the  census  opera- 
tions, and  eight  are  so  small  as  to  be  negligible. 
A  few  on  the  outskirts  of  the  country  are  being 
strengthened  by  immigration  from  China.  There 
are  also  the  natives  of  India  who  come  by  sea  and 
are  for  the  most  part  mere  transients,  earning  a 
small  competency  and  returning  to  their  own  coun- 
try. The  Karens  alone,  although  living  alongside 
of  the  Burmans  in  the  deltaic  portions  of  the  coun- 


138  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

try,  where  it  would  seem  that  they  ought  most  cer- 
tainly to  become  amalgamated  with  the  latter,  are 
successfully  resisting  that  tendency  and  maintaining 
their  independent,  separate,  racial  existence. 

Is  Mr.  Webb  correct  in  ascribing  this  rather  re- 
markable phenomenon  to  the  ready  reception  which 
the  Karens  have  given  to  the  teachings  of  Chris- 
tianity, and,  if  so,  in  what  way  has  it  been  brought 
about?  To  the  former  question  it  may  be  an- 
swered, yes,  and  no.  It  should  be  observed  that 
Mr.  Webb  does  not  have  in  mind  the  increase  of 
the  Karens  in  numbers.  That  is  undoubtedly  due 
to  the  protection  accorded  to  them  by  the  British 
government.  Formerly,  under  the  Burmese  king, 
as  has  been  noted,  they  were  subjected  to  all  man- 
ner of  abuse  and  oppression.  But  with  the  advent 
of  the  British  all  this  was  changed  at  once.  Since 
then,  the  Karens  have  been  protected  in  their  pur- 
suits, have  enjoyed  perfect  liberty  to  go  and  come 
at  their  pleasure  without  fear  of  others,  and  have 
experienced  such  prosperity  and  ease  as  they  had 
never  known  before.  To  these  benign  influences 
the  growth  of  the  Karen  race  in  numbers  is  un- 
doubtedly due.  But  the  Takings  and  the  Shans 
and  the  many  other  races  of  Burma  have  had  pre- 
cisely the  same  protection  as  the  Karens ;  they  have 
been  under  the  same  laws,  and  enjoyed  the  same 
immunities.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
they,  as  compared  with  the  latter,  are  lacking  in 
physical  stamina.    Why,  then,  do  they  all  tend  to 


A  BY-PRODUCT  139 

amalgamate,  to  flow  together,  while  the  Karens 
alone  are  maintaining  their  racial  independence? 
It  is  this  which  Mr.  Webb  ascribes  to  the  influence 
of  the  missionaries,  and  he  is  undoubtedly  right, 
if,  with  this  influence,  be  included  all  that  made  it 
possible. 

Just  here  the  question  may  very  naturally  be 
asked  whether  this  persistent  differentiation  of  the 
Karen  race  is  desirable.  Would  it  not  be  better 
for  them  to  amalgamate  with  the  Burmans  and  lose 
their  identity?  Why  maintain  separate  language 
and  customs?  To  answer  such  questions  as  these 
is  aside  from  the  purpose  of  the  writer  here,  never- 
theless, it  may  be  pointed  out  that  any  race  which 
has  the  virility  to  assert  itself  and  maintain  its  in- 
tegrity in  the  face  of  disintegrating  influences  such 
as  surround  the  Karens,  may  be  supposed,  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  to  be  a  worth-while  race. 
The  presumption  is  strongly  in  their  favor  at  the 
outset.  As  to  the  Karens  in  particular,  if  some- 
thing aside  from  brute  force  is  of  value  in  the 
world,  if  virtue,  idealism  and  integrity  are  real 
assets  and  not  mere  liabilities,  it  would  seem  that 
the  conservation  of  the  Karen  race,  with  its  lan- 
guage and  customs,  is  not  a  mistake,  but  is  some- 
thing to  be  desired;  for  with  its  language  and  cus- 
toms would  undoubtedly  go  its  comparatively  high 
moral  standards  and  everything  else  that  makes  it 
unique  among  the  peoples  of  the  East. 

What,  then,  have  the  missionaries  done  to  bring 


140  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

about  this  result?  And  what  forces  have  coop- 
erated with  them  to  make  it  possible  ?  It  should  be 
conceded  to  start  with  that,  however  great  the  zeal 
and  faithfulness  of  the  missionaries,  their  efforts 
would,  so  far  as  one  can  judge,  have  met  with  com- 
paratively meager  success  had  it  not  been  for  the 
remarkable  preparedness  on  the  part  of  the  Karens 
themselves  for  the  reception  of  Christianity.  Be- 
yond this,  the  work  of  the  missionaries  has  been 
largely  confined  to  the  gathering  and  training  of  a 
Christian  community.  Little  outside  of  that  has 
been  possible.  The  heathen  population,  measure- 
ably  accessible  though  they  have  been  to  the  gospel, 
have  not  been  open  to  what  is  known  as  social  serv- 
ice, for  instance.  Whatever  influence  has  been 
exercised  upon  the  race  as  a  whole,  along  these 
lines,  has  been  achieved  through  the  medium  of 
the  Christian  community  and  on  the  side  of  the 
religious  approach  alone.  It  is  commonly  said 
that  Peter  Parker  opened  China  at  the  point  of 
the  lancet,  but,  whatever  may  have  been  true  of 
other  races,  the  lancet  does  not  open  the  way  for 
the  acceptance  of  Christianity  among  the  Karens 
today,  and  never  has.  The  process  is,  in  fact,  quite 
the  reverse — the  Christian  religion  sometimes 
opens  the  way  for  the  lancet,  the  preacher  has  in- 
troduced the  doctor,  and  only  after  the  doctor  has 
been  recognized  as  a  man  of  God  have  his  medi- 
cines been  accepted. 

A  Karen  vaccinator,  holding  a  government  li- 


A  BY-PRODUCT  141 

cense,  went  to  a  heathen  Karen  village  to  vaccinate 
the  people  against  an  epidemic  of  small-pox  which 
was  raging  In  the  vicinity.  But  the  villagers  re- 
fused to  receive  him  until  a  preacher  had  vouched 
for  him,  because,  they  said,  they  were  afraid  he 
would  innoculate  them  with  the  real  disease,  in 
the  manner  of  some  Burmese  practitioners.  After 
the  preacher  had  assured  them  of  the  man's  entire 
trustworthiness,  they  consented  to  be  vaccinated. 
Not  a  few  government  doctors  of  genuine  zeal  and 
devotion  to  their  tasks  mourn  that  they  have  so 
little  access  to  the  Karen  people — and  yet  no  such 
obstacle  stands  in  the  way  as  that  of  caste  in  India. 
The  reason  they  are  not  able  to  reach  the  people 
more  effectively  is  that  they  lack  the  religious  ap- 
proach. 

Even  if  the  heathen  had  been  open  to  the  social 
approach,  it  is  not  certain  that  the  missionaries 
could  have  done  much  for  them.  When  they  be- 
gan their  work  among  the  Karens,  they  were  as 
enthusiastic  as  could  be  desired  for  giving  them  the 
benefits  of  western  civilization  as  well  as  of  western 
religion.  Occidentals,  especially  perhaps  those  of 
Anglo-Saxon  extraction,  are  so  obsessed  with  the 
absolute  superiority  of  their  civilization,  that  they 
are  likely  to  think  the  peoples  of  the  East  ought 
to  accept  it  as  a  matter  of  course.  Such  is  the 
benignity  of  their  attitude  towards  these  less  fa- 
vored peoples  that,  if  they  do  not  adopt  at  once 
5vhat  is  offered,  there  is  a  disposition  to  force  it 


142  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

upon  them  wiUy-nlUy,  and  any  resistance  on  their 
part  is  prone  to  be  ascribed  to  their  intense  con- 
servatism, the  reflection  never  orjce  arising  that  the 
trouble  may  lie  exclusively  in  the  unsuitability  of 
western  methods  to  oriental  conditions  and  sur- 
roundings. 

The  writer  was  once  talking  with  a  prominent 
government  official  when  he  told  of  an  experience 
he  had  had  while  holding  a  subordinate  office.  He 
got  out  an  American  reaping  machine  and  an- 
nounced that  on  such  a  day  he  would  reap  the  field 
of  a  certain  village  headman.  At  the  appointed 
time,  people  came  from  miles  around  to  witness 
the  unusual  event.  The  machine  was  turned  into 
the  field,  and  men,  women  and  children  gazed  in 
open-eyed  astonishment  as  it  reaped  in  a  few  hours 
what  it  would  have  taken  them  days  to  harvest  with 
their  little  hand  sickles.  When  that  field  was 
reaped,  the  young  officer  turned  to  another  head- 
man and  proposed  to  reap  his  field. 

"Oh,  no,'*  said  the  man,  ''I  do  not  want  you  to 
reap  my  field."  This  incident  was  related  as  an 
evidence  of  hopeless  conservatism  on  the  part  of 
the  second  headman,  and  by  inference  of  the  people 
of  Burma  in  general ;  but  in  reality  it  proves  noth- 
ing of  the  kind.  It  only  showed  the  inadaptability 
of  western  methods  to  eastern  conditions.  There 
rice  fields  are  divided  up  by  means  of  little  earthen 
ridges  a  foot  or  two  in  height  into  plots  averaging 
not  more  than  half  an  acre  in  extent.    The  writer 


A  BY-PRODUCT  143 

is  not  quite  sure  of  the  reason  of  this,  but  his  un- 
derstanding is  that,  if  the  plots  were  made  larger, 
the  wind  would  set  up  currents  in  them  which  would 
interfere  with  the  best  growth  of  the  plants.  By 
harvest  time,  the  water  has,  of  course,  disappeared, 
but  turn  an  American  reaper  into  one  of  these  little 
plots,  and  more  grain  would  be  trodden  down  than 
reaped.  The  old-fashioned  cradle  might  be  useful, 
if  made  small  enough;  the  natives  are  so  slight  of 
stature  that  they  could  hardly  swing  full-sized 
cradles.  But  really  there,  where  labor  is  so  cheap, 
it  is  difficult  to  find  methods  of  agriculture  which 
are  an  improvement  on  their  own,  and  the  Amer- 
ican reaper  is  as  little  suited  for  their  needs  as  the 
leg  of  an  elephant  to  the  body  of  a  cat. 

The  oriental  is  really  no  more  conservative  than 
the  occidental.  The  marvellous  changes  which 
have  been  voluntarily  adopted  in  China  and  Japan 
in  recent  years,  really,  though  perhaps  not  con- 
fessedly, as  a  result  of  Christian  missions,  is  con- 
vincing evidence.  But  the  westerner,  when  trying 
to  instruct  the  inhabitant  of  the  East,  is  quite  as 
likely  to  make  himself  ridiculous  as  helpful.  The 
missionaries  tried  introducing  American  plows. 
The  Karens  are  agriculturists  and  it  seemed  that 
it  ought  to  be  easy  enough  to  find  a  plow  that 
would  be  an  improvement  on  the  native  implement, 
which  is  simply  a  forked  stick  with  an  iron  shoe 
on  the  end  of  it.  But  various  plows  were  tried  and 
speedily  discarded;  not  one  of  them  proved  to  be 


144  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

really  practical.  American  plows  are  too  heavy 
for  the  small  native  cattle  to  draw,  and  in  any  case 
a  draft  of  only  three  or  four  inches  is  required,  as 
the  rice  sprouts  cannot  stand  up  well  in  deeply 
plowed  soil. 

Now  the  time  has  probably  come  when  the 
missionary,  if  set  free  from  other  work  and  given 
financial  backing,  which  would  enable  him  to  do 
it,  might  accomplish  something  along  the  line  of 
agricultural  experimentation  which  would  be  really 
constructive.  After  three-quarters  of  a  century  of 
intimate  contact  with  the  people,  he  has  learned 
humihty  and  realizes  that  he  would  have  to  begin 
from  the  standpoint  of  eastern  conditions,  not  of 
western.  Problems  in  plenty  present  themselves. 
Many  of  the  Karens,  who  were  originally  a  hill 
tribe,  came  down  to  the  plains  when  the  country 
was  first  opened  up  by  the  British,  and  took  up 
land  which  has  since  become  valuable.  With  re- 
peated cultivation  of  the  same  crop,  however,  these 
lands  are  losing  their  fertility,  while  the  hills,  which 
are  capable  of  supporting  a  vast  population  and  are 
still  the  natural  habitat  of  the  Karens — a  region 
where  their  sturdy  physiques  have  their  best  de- 
velopment— remain  for  the  most  part  uncultivated. 
The  whole  great  task  would  not  be  an  easy  one. 
Probably  not  less  than  five  years  of  sympathetic 
study  on  the  spot  by  a  trained  expert  would  be 
required  before  even  a  beginning  could  be  made. 
The  government  is  already  trying  to  do  something; 


A  BY-PRODUCT  145 

it  has  a  Director  of  Agriculture,  with  two  or  three 
assistants  who  have  been  trained  in  English  or  Can- 
adian schools.  But  government  cannot  get  into 
intimate  touch  with  the  Karens — missionaries  are 
specialists  at  that,  and  recognized  as  such.  There 
is  good  reason  to  believe,  however,  that  in  time 
the  problems  mentioned  would  be  solved.  This 
might  mean  much  for  the  betterment  and  pros- 
perity of  the  entire  Karen  race.  But,  to  tell  the 
truth,  up  to  the  present,  the  missionaries  have  been 
able  to  do  little  along  these  lines  even  for  the  Chris- 
tian community,  let  alone  the  great  body  of 
heathens. 

Nor  is  it  by  any  means  sure  that,  even  if  the 
missionaries  had  all  along  been  in  a  position  to 
render  aid  to  the  heathen  community,  and  they  had 
been  open  to  approach,  they  would  have  profited 
by  it.  Not  that  which  is  from  without,  but  that 
which  is  from  within,  defiles  the  man ;  and  equally 
true  is  it  that,  not  that  which  is  imposed  from  with- 
out, but  that  which  is  implanted  within,  benefits 
the  man.  There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  the 
Christian  converts  would  seize  with  avidity  any 
suggestions  which  they  found  really  practicable. 
They  have  the  new  spirit  which  would  prompt 
them  to  it.  Many  of  them  are  constantly  on  the 
lookout  for  anything  which  may  prove  a  benefit  to 
their  people.  But  as  to  the  heathen,  the  case  is 
different.  The  writer  and  his  father  before  him 
have  both  been  asked  many  times  by  heathen  to 


146  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

do  them  some  favor.  No  one  was  ever  refused. 
At  various  times  substantial  benefits  have  been  se- 
cured, grants  of  land,  reduced  taxation,  exemption 
from  onerous  impressment,  and  so  forth.  The 
missionaries  have  always  been  glad  to  help,  but, 
so  far  as  is  known,  none  of  the  recipients  of  their 
kindnesses  has  ever  been  really  profited.  Not  only 
have  they  not  been  more  forward  to  accept  the 
Christian  religion,  but  theyhave  gotten  no  real  good 
from  what  was  done  for  them.  They  simply  had 
more  money  to  spend  for  drink,  or  more  leisure 
for  carousing,  or  something  of  the  sort.  It  was 
not  in  them  to  turn  the  favors  received  to  good 
account,  but  only  to  evil. 

The  temporal  progress  mentioned  in  a  previous 
chapter  has  been  confined  almost  exclusively  to  the 
Christian  community.  So  far  as  the  writer  knows, 
not  one  heathen  Karen  has  ever  risen  to  even  a 
moderate  degree  of  distinction.  Some  have  ac- 
quired wealth  in  one  way  or  another,  but  not  one 
has  attained  to  even  a  subordinate  position  of 
honor  or  trust  in  the  service  of  the  government  or 
anywhere  else.  The  government  has  been  thor- 
oughly cordial  and  would  gladly  recognize  ability 
wherever  found.  Other  positions  are  also  open. 
But  the  heathen  Karen  simply  does  not  possess  the 
power.    He  is  intellectually  as  good  as  dead. 

What  then  is  the  present  situation  ?  The  num- 
ber of  Karen  Christians,  as  recorded  in  the  census, 
is  130,271  less  than  twelve  per  cent,  of  the  entire 


A  BY-PRODUCT  147 

Karen  population.  Of  course  this  Includes  not 
simply  actual  members  of  churches,  but  the  entire 
Christian  constituency,  men,  women  and  children, 
those  who  are  Christians  by  conviction  and  life,  and 
those,  not  very  numerous  to  be  sure,  who  are  reg- 
istered as  Christians  because  they  do  not  care  to 
subscribe  themselves  as  belonging  to  any  other 
faith.  This  small  community  has  made  remark- 
able progress  along  all  lines.  The  same  would  un- 
doubtedly have  been  true  of  the  entire  Karen  na- 
tion had  it  all  been  christianized,  as  at  one  time 
seemed  probable.  It  develops  that,  although  this 
did  not  take  place,  the  entire  race  has  nevertheless 
been  remarkably  conserved.  If  again  the  question 
be  raised,  *'How  has  this  result  been  brought 
about?"  the  answer  is  confessedly  difficult.  The 
missionaries  seem  to  have  had,  and  in  the  nature 
of  the  case  could  have  had,  little  to  do  with  it. 
Their  efforts  were  of  necessity  confined  to  the  gath- 
ering and  building  up  of  the  Christian  community. 
Whatever  else  was  accomplished  was  brought 
about  purely  and  simply  by  Indirection,  and  its 
process  is  obscure.  Was  It  that  the  Karens,  even 
though  they  did  not  become  Christians,  could  not 
forget  their  early  traditions?  Was  it  that  In  the 
Christian  appeal  they  felt  the  pull  of  their  old  time 
faith  ?  Even  though  they  may  not  have  heeded  it, 
have  they  heard  the  Inner  call  to  return  to  their 
God,  and  has  this  been  a  bond  to  hold  them  as  a 
race  from  dissolution?     In  other  words,  has  the 


148  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

power  of  God  manifested  Itself  directly  upon  the 
hearts  of  these  people,  rallying  them  about  the 
ancient  Ideals  which,  though  crude,  were  neverthe- 
less In  the  main  true  to  him? 

Doubtless  among  all  peoples  wherever  a  spirit- 
ual evangel  has  been  preached.  It  has  brought  tem- 
poral blessing,  the  * 'healing  of  the  nations."  In 
some  instances  this  may  have  arisen  as  the  result 
of  direct  effort,  the  answer  of  Christian  sympathy 
to  human  need,  but  in  the  case  of  the  Karens,  it 
has  been  achieved,  so  far  as  can  be  judged,  on  the 
ground  of  the  religious  appeal  alone.  The  call  of 
God,  whether  heeded  or  unheeded,  has  been  as  life 
from  the  dead.  It  has  awakened  an  entire  race 
with  the  thrill  of  consciousness.  Even  though  still 
partially  enswathed  in  the  cerements  of  death,  it 
has  heard  the  word  of  power  and  Is  coming  forth 
to  take  Its  rightful  place  In  the  world  arena.  What 
position  it  may  ultimately  occupy,  no  one  can  tell. 
Probably  It  will  never  be  numerically  so  important 
as  the  dominant  races  of  India  or  of  China,  per- 
haps not  even  so  Important  as  the  Burmese.  But 
its  moral  significance  is  likely  to  outweigh  by  far 
its  greatness  In  numbers.  Meanwhile  it  Is  an 
earnest  of  the  blessed  work  which  God  Intends  to 
carry  on  among  all  races  through  the  gospel  of 
his  Son. 


XII 

IS  THERE   STILL  NEED  FOR 
MISSIONARIES? 

THE  writer  stood  one  day  on  the  banks  of 
the  Salween  River  which,  for  a  distance  of 
about  seventy-five  miles,  forms  the  bound- 
ary between  Burma  on  the  west  and  Siam  on  the 
east.  At  the  point  where  he  stood,  the  river  is 
only  a  few  hundred  yards  wide,  although  it  broad- 
ens out  some  miles  below  into  a  majestic  stream. 
The  channel,  which  is  a  rocky  gorge,  is  very  deep, 
how  deep  he  has  no  means  of  knowing.  Local 
tradition  has  it  that  it  is  so  deep  that,  if  there  were 
no  water  in  it,  the  traveller  on  foot  would  require 
a  whole  day  to  thread  his  way  down  one  side  and 
up  the  other.  This  is  doubtless  an  exaggeration, 
but  beyond  question  the  depth  is  really  very  great. 
The  current  is  terrific,  reminding  one  of  the  Niag- 
ara in  the  gorge  below  the  falls.  It  is  perhaps  like 
what  Niagara  would  be  if  its  channel  were  deeper, 
for  in  the  Salween  there  is  no  furious  dashing  of 
waves  on  the  surface  as  in  the  other  river,  but  a 
writhing  and  seething  and  twisting  and  turning 
quite  as  suggestive  of  power.  The  missionary  had 
with  him  seven  ponies,  for  he  was  on  a  tour  into 

149 


150  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

Northern  Slam.  A  whole  month  would  be  re- 
quired for  the  journey  each  way.  Usually  he  had 
but  five  ponies,  two  for  riding  and  three  for  pack- 
ing, but  on  this  occasion  another  missionary  was 
going  with  him,  and  so  he  had  two  more.  The 
problem  was  to  get  the  ponies  across  the  river.  By 
the  bank  was  a  native  boat,  a  dug-out  of  rather 
unusual  size,  hewn  out  of  a  single  log.  It  was 
thirty-five  or  forty  feet  in  length  and  about  three 
feet  and  a  half  wide.  The  seven  ponies  were  led 
into  the  stream  alongside  the  boat.  They  were 
native  ponies,  the  tallest  only  about  twelve  hands 
high,  so  small  that  when  the  missionary  stood  be- 
side it  with  elbow  at  his  side  and  his  forearm 
stretched  out  horizontally,  his  hand  rested  on  the 
top  of  the  animal's  shoulder,  and  when  he  rode, 
his  feet  came  within  a  few  inches  of  the  ground. 
Yet  it  was  sturdy  and  willing,  and  would  carry  his 
hundred  and  ninety  pounds  up  and  down  the 
roughest  roads,  paths  which  no  self-respecting 
American  horse  would  travel  alone,  to  say  nothing 
of  carrying  a  weight  on  its  back. 

When  the  ponies  had  all  been  led  into  the  water 
on  the  side  of  the  boat  downstream,  the  mission- 
ary took  his  place  in  about  the  center  of  the  boat 
lengthwise,  holding  his  two  largest  ponies  by  their 
bridles;  ahead  of  him  were  men  with  two  more  of 
his  ponies,  and  back  of  him  were  men  with  the 
other  three.  Then  a  strange  thing  happened.  The 
boatman,  a  large  stockily  built  man  who  had  a 


THE  NEED  FOR  MISSIONARIES       151 

reputation  all  over  Burma  for  his  skill,  stood  on 
the  stem  as  firmly  as  a  tree  growing  on  a  rock, 
grasped  the  end  of  a  large,  long  paddle  in  his 
right  hand, — the  paddle  must  have  been  from  eight 
to  ten  feet  in  length,  with  a  blade  about  fifteen 
inches  wide — wrapped  his  right  foot  around  it 
down  near  the  blade;  and  struck  off  from  shore, 
rowing  and  steering  that  great  boat,  with  its  drag- 
ging freight,  alone,  with  a  single  motion  of  the 
paddle.  No  sooner  did  the  ponies  find  their  feet 
off  the  ground  than  they  became  frantic.  They 
were  so  swept  with  the  current  hither  and  thither 
that  they  knew  not  what  to  make  of  it.  Some- 
times they  struck  off  away  from  the  boat,  some- 
times in  towards  the  boat  as  if  they  would  climb 
in,  sometimes  forward,  sometimes  backward,  until 
the  craft  became  quite  unmanageable.  Meanwhile 
the  ponies  with  the  boat  and  its  occupants  were 
being  borne  down  the  river.  For  half  a  mile  or 
more  they  were  carried  until  they  reached  an  enor- 
mous eddy  which  flung  its  whirling  currents  al- 
most from  bank  to  bank.  The  missionary  thought 
that  they  would  all  surely  be  swept  back  to  shore 
again,  but  by  that  time  the  ponies  had  become  so 
utterly  fatigued  with  their  efforts,  that  they  could 
struggle  no  longer.  The  biggest  one,  the  favorite 
riding  pony,  lay  over  on  its  side  with  its  stomach 
In  the  air  quite  ready  to  give  up  the  ghost.  Its 
master  had  to  hold  its  head  above  water  by  main 
force,  else  it  would  have  been  drowned,  then  and 


152  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

there.  When  the  ponies  ceased  struggling,  how- 
ever, the  boat  became  manageable  again,  the  boat- 
man turned  the  prow  toward  the  further  shore, 
pushed  forward  with  his  mighty  paddle,  and  soon 
the  ponies  felt  their  feet  on  solid  ground  again, 
clambered  up  the  bank,  and  in  a  short  time  were 
ready  for  the  continuation  of  the  journey. 

The  incident  is  mentioned  here  not  because  of 
its  exciting  nature,  although  the  adventure  was  suf- 
ficiently thrilling  at  the  time, — for  the  other  mis- 
sionary who  watched  from  the  shore  thought  that 
they  would  all  be  drowned, — ^but  because  it  gives 
a  picture  of  conditions  as  they  exist  even  today 
on  the  mission  field  of  Burma.  There  were  the 
ponies  struggling  frantically  in  the  water,  their 
friend  in  the  boat  trying  to  encourage  them  as  well 
as  he  could  with  his  famlhar  voice,  and  the  boat- 
man at  the  stern,  ready,  active,  resourceful.  There 
are  the  native  Christians  in  the  stress  of  conditions 
which  are  at  best  truly  disheartening,  there  is  the 
missionary  doing  what  he  can  to  encourage  and  di- 
rect them,  and  ever  at  the  helm,  guiding  all,  is 
the  Master. 

No  one  can  conceive  the  stress  and  turmoil  of 
the  conditions  with  which  the  native  Christians 
have  constantly  to  contend.  To  live  from  child- 
hood up  in  a  land  in  which  cholera  Is  endemic  and 
one  can  never  tell  when  it  may  spring  up  is,  of  itself, 
sufficiently  terrifying.  A  horrible  disease  It  is,  shud- 
deringly  rapid  in  its  action ;  for  in  that  country  one 


THE  NEED  FOR  MISSIONARIES      153 

may  get  up  in  the  morning  feeling  perfectly  well, 
and  be  in  his  grave  at  night.  Take  a  sponge  full  of 
water  and  squeeze  it  until  there  is  not  a  drop 
left — that  is  cholera.  It  turns  all  the  fluids  of 
the  system  into  water  and  drains  them  off,  so  that 
soon  the  eyes  become  sunken,  the  fingers  and  toes 
shriveled  up  because  there  is  nothing  to  fill  out  the 
skin,  the  wrist  pulseless  because  there  is  so  little 
blood  to  pulsate, — perhaps  a  slight  pulse  under  the 
armpit, — ^that  is  all. 

The  writer  has  seen  only  a  few  cases  of  this 
dread  disease.  The  first  was  that  of  a  pupil  in 
the  station  school,  about  fourteen  years  of  age. 
He  was  taken  ill  one  morning,  but  the  missionary 
did  not  learn  of  it  until  noon.  By  that  time  he 
looked  more  like  a  corpse  than  a  living  person. 
The  missionary  had  him  segregated  from  the  other 
pupils,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  teachers  and  older 
school  boys  took  care  of  him.  Soon  he  noticed  that 
they  were  grasping  the  patient's  legs  with  all  their 
might.  He  asked  why  they  did  so,  and  was  told 
that  he  was  having  cramps,  and,  if  they  did  not 
hold  the  muscles  in  place,  those  from  the  back 
would  whip  around  to  the  front.  Such  excruciat- 
ing pains  as  the  little  fellow  suffered  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  describe.  He  survived  until  the  next  morn- 
ing. While  preparations  were  being  made  for 
burying  him,  which  was  done  at  once,  another 
child  was  noticed  to  be  acting  strangely,  and  was 
asked  what  ailed  him.    He  said  that  he  did  not 


154  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

feel  well,  and  at  two  o* clock  that  day  he  was  dead. 
When  a  case  breaks  out  among  the  Karens,  it 
is  customary  for  them  to  leave  a  goblet  of  water 
by  the  side  of  the  patient,  who  always  suffers  from 
a  racking  thirst,  and  make  for  the  jungle,  taking 
with  them  a  few  handfuls  of  rice  or  whatever  else 
is  conveniently  to  hand.  Or,  if  it  is  a  Christian 
village,  a  person  will  be  left  to  care  for  the  sick 
one,  but  that  usually  means  that,  when  the  villag- 
ers return,  three  or  four  days  later,  there  are  two 
bodies  to  bury  instead  of  one.  For  quickly  and 
mysteriously  as  the  disease  appears,  it  subsides  as 
quickly  if  it  finds  no  human  victims.  Among  the 
Burmese,  on  the  other  hand,  with  their  fatalistic 
ideas,  it  is  customary  for  the  people  to  remain  in 
their  homes,  and  great  numbers  may  be  swept  off 
in  a  few  days.  Until  recent  years  the  reports  of 
the  British  army  posts,  where  the  best  of  phy- 
sicians are  employed,  showed  only  two  or  three 
per  cent  of  recoveries  from  cholera.  Now,  im- 
proved methods  of  treatment, — among  them  being 
the  introduction  into  the  system  of  normal  salt  so- 
lution to  take  the  place  of  the  blood  which  has 
been  drained  off, — may  have  raised  the  percent- 
age somewhat,  but  of  course  the  natives  know 
nothing  of  these  methods.  To  live  from  childhood 
up  in  such  a  country,  constantly  surrounded  by  a 
menace  of  this  kind,  is  like  having  a  continuous 
nightmare. 

There  are  other  diseases.    The  dreaded  small- 


THE  NEED  FOR  MISSIONARIES      155 

pox  frequently  breaks  out.  People  in  that  coun- 
try do  not  use  the  precautions  familiar  with  us  to 
prevent  the  spread  of  the  malady.  Some  of  the 
more  enlightened  are  beginning  to  resort  to  vac- 
cination, but  the  approved  native  way  Is  to  inocu- 
late with  the  real  disease.  Measles  is  almost  as 
much  dreaded  as  small  pox,  as  it  frequently  as- 
sumes a  virulent  form.  In  travelling  through  the 
jungles  it  is  not  uncommon  at  the  approach  to  a 
Karen  village  to  see  hung  overhead  across  the 
pathway  a  rope  from  which  are  suspended  fetters 
of  elephants,  neck-gongs  of  the  domestic  buffalo, 
yoke-bows  of  oxen,  clubs  and  cudgels,  as  a  warn- 
ing to  bring  no  infectious  disease  into  the  village 
on  pain  of  punishment  and  fines. 

But  the  worst  scourge  of  all,  perhaps,  although 
not  so  spectacular  as  some,  is  the  malaria.  This 
is  almost  universal.  It  Is  subtle  in  its  action,  but 
its  effects  are  often  very  serious.  Young  people 
sixteen  to  eighteen  years  of  age,  who  ought  to  be 
in  the  enjoyment  of  exuberant  youth,  will  fre- 
quently come  to  the  missionary  and  say, 

**0h.  Teacher,  I  wish  I  could  die ;  I  am  so  mis- 
erable." And  as  he  looks  upon  their  sallow  faces, 
their  sunken,  almost  expressionless  eyes,  their  soft, 
flabby  muscles,  he  does  not  wonder  at  it.  Some- 
times babies  have  malaria  so  badly  that  before 
they  are  six  months  old  their  spleens  become  en- 
larged, and  it  is  quite  common  to  meet  a  man 
whose  spleen  fills  half  the  abdominal  cavity.  Most 


156  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

people  in  America  do  not  know  where  the  spleen 
is  but  every  Karen  knows. 

Mad  dogs  are  another  source  of  terror.  Six 
were  killed  on  the  writer^s  compound  in  one  sea- 
son— for  there  are  mad  dog  seasons  in  Burma,  as 
there  are  strawberry  seasons  in  America,  and  they 
come  at  about  the  same  time.  The  Burmese  will 
never  kill  a  mad  dog  since  they  think  it  is  a  sin 
to  take  animal  life.  The  consequence  is  that  the 
pests  roam  at  large  biting  people  and  other  dogs, 
and  spreading  the  virus  of  their  dreadful  disease. 
There  is  a  Pasteur  institute  in  Rangoon  to  which 
one  may  go  for  treatment,  but  few  of  the  natives 
know  of  it  or  understand  its  value.  For  the  most 
part  they  content  themselves  with  their  own  rem- 
edies. The  native  doctors  profess  to  have  meth- 
ods of  treatment  which  first  develop  in  the  patient 
all  the  symptoms  of  hydrophobia  and  then  cure 
him  of  them.  They  are,  of  course,  of  more  than 
doubtful  value,  but  enough  people  who  have  been 
bitten  by  mad  dogs  recover  anyway  to  lend  plausi- 
bility to  the  claim. 

Venomous  serpents  abound.  There  is  the  cobra 
or  hooded  serpent,  whose  bite  is  almost  invariably 
fatal.  The  members  of  this  family  of  reptiles  vary 
in  size  from  a  small  yellow  variety  less  than  a  foot 
long  with  a  bronze  colored  head  of  metallic  luster 
to  the  hamadryad  twelve  feet  long.  This  last  is 
as  fleet  as  a  horse,  and  will  chase  a  man.  An  in- 
stance is  recorded  of  a  Burman  who  was  being  pur- 


THE  NEED  FOR  MISSIONARIES      157 

sued  by  one  of  these  monsters.  He  came  to  a 
stream  of  water,  and  in  jumping  across  it  his  red 
turban  fell  off.  The  serpent's  attention  was  at- 
tracted by  that,  it  attacked  it  viciously,  and  the 
man  escaped.  The  Russell's  viper  is  worse  than 
the  cobra.  It  is  a  short,  thick  reptile,  only  about  a 
foot  and  a  half  long,  but  as  large  around  as  the 
wrist  of  a  man.  It  likes  to  lie  in  the  dust  of  the 
roadway.  Step  over  it,  and  nothing  happens;  but 
the  slightest  touch,  and  its  stroke  is  as  quick  as 
lightning  and  more  deadly  than  that  of  the  cobra. 
A  beautiful  young  Karen  woman,  belonging  to  one 
of  the  choicest  families  in  the  Shwegyin  mission, 
went  down  out  of  her  house  one  night,  barefooted 
according  to  the  custom  of  her  people,  and  returned 
saying  that  she  had  stepped  on  a  thorn.  Soon  seri- 
ous symptoms  developed,  and  in  a  few  hours  she 
was  dead.  It  is  supposed  that  she  had  stepped  on 
the  fang  of  a  dead  viper  which  had  been  killed 
there  some  months  before.  The  body  of  the  snake 
had  decayed  away,  but  the  poison  sack  remained 
and  that  was  still  able  to  inject  the  poison  into  the 
wound  made  by  the  fang.  A  kind  of  water  snake 
is  described  whose  bite  is  said  to  be  even  more 
venomous  than  that  of  the  viper.  Some  one  will 
go  to  the  spring  to  draw  water,  be  bitten  by  this 
serpent,  and  not  be  able  to  get  back  to  the  house, 
but  drop  dead  almost  instantly. 

The  python  is  another  denizen  of  the  forest 
which  is  greatly  to  be  feared.    It  is  not  venomous 


158  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

like  the  serpents  just  mentioned,  although  the  Ka- 
rens have  a  tradition  to  the  effect  that  in  the  be- 
ginning it  was  the  only  creature  whose  bite  was 
venomous,  and  its  poison  was  so  powerful  that,  if 
it  bit  even  the  footprint  of  a  man,  the  man  would 
shortly  die.  But  it  had  seen  no  evidence  of  its 
power;  so  it  inquired  of  the  birds  if  they  knew 
anything  about  it.  The  paddy  bird  and  the  owl 
and  the  great  horned  toucan  said  they  knew  noth- 
ing, but  the  crow  said  that  it  had  seen  a  man  whose 
track  the  python  had  bitten,  and  it  had  followed 
him,  but  it  judged  that,  so  far  from  having  an 
injurious  effect  on  the  man,  it  must  have  produced 
a  very  joyous  result,  for  it  had  seen  a  great  con- 
course of  people  who  were  engaged  in  dancing  and 
singing.  The  fact  was  that  the  man  had  died,  and 
what  the  crow  witnessed  was  a  Karen  funeral,  but 
it  mistook  it  for  a  festal  occasion.  When  the 
python  heard  the  crow's  report,  it  climbed  up  into 
a  tree  and  in  sheer  disgust  spewed  out  all  its  venom 
on  the  ground.  Then  the  cobras  and  the  vipers 
and  the  tigers  and  the  toads  came  and  Hcked  it  up. 
The  stinging  spine  fish  had  only  time  to  dip  its 
spines  in.  The  consequence  is  that  all  these  crea- 
tures are  venomous  to  this  day,  but  the  python  is 
free  from  venom.  It  is,  nevertheless,  a  much 
dreaded  foe  of  man.  It  may  hang  suspended  from 
the  branch  of  a  tree,  seize  the  unwary  traveller, 
wrap  itself  around  him,  and  squeeze  him  to  death 
before    assistance    can   come.      Tigers,   leopards, 


THE  NEED  FOR  MISSIONARIES      159 

bears  and  other  wild  animals  also  roam  the  jungle 
to  the  terror  of  the  native  peoples. 

From  some  of  the  worst  of  these  dangers  the 
missionary  is  comparatively  safe.  During  a  chol- 
era epidemic  he  is  careful  to  drink  boiled  water 
only,  and  eat  no  uncooked  vegetables,  or  fruit  which 
has  not  been  disinfected.  He  never  sleeps  without 
having  a  mosquito  netting  over  him,  so  is  meas- 
ureably  free  from  malaria.  If  he  is  bitten  by  a 
mad  dog,  he  goes  to  a  Pasteur  institute  for  treat- 
ment. Some  of  the  natives  know  of  these  pre- 
ventives, but  few  realize  their  importance,  and  to 
change  the  habits  of  an  entire  race  is  not  easy. 

Of  course  none  of  these  things  is  new  to  the  stu- 
dent of  missions.  Every  one  who  is  at  all  familiar 
with  conditions  in  the  tropics  must  know  of  them. 
They  are  mentioned  here  because,  while  usually 
considered  from  the  side  of  the  missionary,  or  per- 
haps merely  mentioned  as  matters  of  curious  in- 
terest, they  have  a  real  and  vital  relation — in  fact 
their  most  intimate  relation — to  the  people  native 
of  the  country.  The  missionary  returns  to  the 
homeland  occasionally,  and  is  recuperated,  but  the 
Karen  has  no  such  opportunity,  and  the  conditions 
of  life  are  very  hard. 

The  physical  conditions  which  have  been  de- 
scribed can  be  readily  understood  by  any  one  who 
gives  them  the  least  attention.  They  are,  however, 
but  the  prototype  of  other  conditions  which  are 
more  difficult  to  visualize  and  make  real  to  those 


160  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

who  have  not  witnessed  them,  but  which  are,  never- 
theless, even  more  serious.  Among  these  are  the 
economic  conditions.  The  Karens  have  a  saying 
handed  down  from  the  elders : 

"Children  and  grandchildren,  in  the  last  days, 
the  earth  will  become  so  narrow  as  to  leave  no 
room  to  so  much  as  sit  down  in  it."  And  this  say- 
ing seems  now  indeed  to  be  coming  true,  so  far  as 
Burma  is  concerned.  A  hundred  years  ago,  the 
Karen  had  no  need  to  concern  himself  seriously 
as  to  where  to  gain  his  livelihood.  He  lived  in 
constant  fear  of  his  oppressors,  to  be  sure,  but 
economic  conditions  did  not  trouble  him.  His 
wants  were  simple  and  easily  met.  Land  there  was 
in  abundance  which  he  might  cultivate  at  his  pleas- 
ure, and  thus  secure  his  living.  But,  few  countries 
in  the  world  are  more  lavishly  endowed  by  nature 
than  is  Burma ;  it  is  by  far  the  richest  of  the  prov- 
inces of  India.  A  famine  is  almost  unknown. 
Once  in  forty  or  fifty  years,  to  be  sure,  in  the  hill 
tracts,  all  the  bamboos  of  a  certain  variety  go  to 
seed  at  once.  The  rats  feed  on  the  seed  and  prop- 
agate enormously.  When  they  have  eaten  up  all 
the  seed  of  the  bamboo,  they  descend  on  the  fields 
of  rice  and  strip  them  of  absolutely  every  kernel  of 
grain.  When  this  source  of  provender  is  exhausted, 
they  sometimes  migrate  in  great  hordes  to  other 
parts  to  carry  on  their  work  of  destruction  there. 
The  writer  has  been  credibly  informed  of  such  a 
migration  of  rats  which  took  place  forty  or  fifty 


THE  NEED  FOR  MISSIONARIES       161 

years  ago  near  Shwegyin  when  the  rodents  came 
down  from  the  mountains  on  the  east  in  vast  mul- 
titudes, those  in  front  driven  by  those  behind,  until 
they  crossed  the  river  on  the  other  side,  where 
they  fought  with  one  another  for  places  on  the 
little  ridges  of  earth  between  the  rice  plots  and 
myriads  of  them  were  drowned.  But  at  the  worst, 
the  devastation  wrought  in  this  way  is  of  rare  oc- 
currence and  is  confined  to  a  comparatively  narrow 
and  sparsely  settled  range  of  country. 

Aside  from  these  sporadic  and  relatively  insig- 
nificant times  of  scarcity,  the  land  brings  forth 
abundantly,  for  there  is  never  a  failure  of  the  rains; 
and  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  so  rich  a  coun- 
try would  be  overlooked  by  the  impoverished  and 
often  famine-stricken  people  of  the  adjacent  coun- 
tries of  India  and  China.  These  are,  therefore, 
flocking  into  Burma  in  great  numbers.  Compara- 
tively few  of  them  are  becoming  permanent  resi- 
dents; They  are  there  to  suck  out  the  richness  of 
the  country  and  return  home  to  live  in,  what  for 
them  is,  princely  comfort.  But  they  are  drawing 
steadily  upon  the  resources  of  Burma  and  making 
life  in  that  land  more  and  more  difficult.  The  Bur- 
mans  themselves  are  also  awakening  to  the  value  of 
their  inheritance  and  are  bringing  the  soil  under 
cultivation  in  a  manner  which  was  not  thought  of 
in  the  time  of  their  kings.  The  consequence  is  that 
the  desirable  lands  are  nearly  all  taken  up,  and 
the  struggle  for  existence  is  becoming  more  and 


162  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

more  difficult.  It  is  said  that  one  method  of  tor- 
ture sometimes  practiced  by  the  American  Indians 
was  to  wrap  up  their  victims  in  a  fresh  hide  and 
place  him  out  in  the  sun.  As  the  hide  dried  up 
under  the  influence  of  the  sun's  rays,  it  tightened 
upon  the  man  enclosed  and  slowly  pressed  out  his 
life.  If  one  can  conceive  of  the  feelings  of  that 
man,  one  can  understand,  in  a  measure,  what  is 
happening  to  the  Karens  of  Burma.  They  cannot 
migrate  to  other  lands.  Their  peaceful  habits  and 
manner  of  life  amid  the  solitudes  of  their  hills  has 
disqualified  them  for  that.  But  their  own  country 
is  being  invaded  by  foreign  hordes,  they  are  being 
pressed  on  every  side,  and  fields  which  a  generation 
ago  were  almost  valueless  are  now  beyond  their 
reach. 

Thus  far  the  Karen  has  held  his  own  fairly  well. 
How  he  does  it  is  a  mystery  to  even  the  most  ex- 
perienced missionary.  In  many  ways  the  Karen 
seems  inefficient,  easy-going  and  wasteful;  yet 
among  the  Burmans  he  has  the  reputation  of  being 
able  to  secure  land  and  amass  wealth  as  the  Bur- 
mans  themselves  cannot  do.  Certain  it  is  that 
wherever  there  is  a  Karen  village,  there  are  almost 
sure  to  be  on  the  fringes  Burmese  parasites  who 
have  no  visible  means  of  support,  but  really  make 
their  living  off  the  Karens.  Nevertheless  the  eco- 
nomic problem  which  faces  Karen  Christians  is  a 
very  serious  one.  To  them  it  is  entirely  new. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  previous  experience  of  their 


THE  NEED  FOR  MISSIONARIES      163 

race  to  fit  them  for  it.  And  surely  enough  it  seems 
that  their  own  graphic  prophecy  will  come  true, 
the  land  will  become  narrower  and  smaller,  until 
there  is  no  room  in  it  to  sit  down  on — as  if  men 
were  crowded  so  close  together  that  they  could  not 
recline  or  even  sit,  but  had  to  stand. 

But  that  which  most  concerns  the  Christian  stu- 
dent of  missions  is  the  religious  situation,  and  of 
this  it  is  to  be  said  that,  notwithstanding  the  splen- 
did work  which  has  already  been  accomplished  in 
the  spreading  of  the  gospel  in  Burma,  this  is  per- 
haps the  most  serious  condition  of  all,  and  it  bids 
fair  to  become  more  and  more  exacting.  Too  often 
it  has  been  represented  that  the  heathen  is  hunger- 
ing for  the  gospel.  Would  that  it  were  true !  The 
natural  mind  is  enmity  against  God,  and  already 
the  antagonism  between  heathenism  and  Chris- 
tianity is  very  marked.  It  is  truly  heart-moving 
to  note  with  what  tactfulness  the  preacher  of  the 
word  must  conduct  himself  in  order  that  he  may 
gain  access  to  the  heathen.  A  young  Christian 
worker  was  sent  to  a  district  where  there  were  no 
disciples  and  the  people  had  been  brought  so  much 
under  the  influence  of  Buddhism  that  they  hated 
the  Christian  religion  almost  more  than  the  Budd- 
hists themselves.  He  went  alone.  He  entered  a 
heathen  Karen  village  and  was  soon  asked  his 
business. 

"Are  you  Jesus  Christ?"  they  inquired — mean- 
ing a  Christian. 


164  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

"No,"  he  said,  "I  am  not  Jesus  Christ.'* 

"Are  you  a  white  book?"  meaning  a  believer  in 
the  bible. 

"No,"  said  he,  "I  am  not  a  white  book." 

"Are  you  a  diver?"  that  is,  a  Baptist. 

"No,  I  am  not  a  diver,"  came  the  reply. 

"Well,  then,"  they  said,  "we  will  let  you  come 
into  our  village,  but  we  will  have  nothing  to  do 
with  these  preachers."  Then  the  young  man  asked 
them  to  let  him  teach  their  children. 

"What,  can  you  teach?"  they  asked,  for  they 
were  greatly  surprised  to  find  a  Karen  who  could 
teach.     "And  what  can  you  teach?" 

"Oh,  Karen,  and  Burmese,  and  English." 

"Do  you  mean  to  say  you  understand  English? 
We  never  knew  that  a  Karen  could  speak  English," 
and  finding  a  scrap  of  an  English  newspaper  some- 
where which  had  been  used  for  wrapping  paper, 
they  brought  it  to  him  to  test  him.  When  they 
learned  that  he  could  not  only  read  English,  but 
also  could  converse  a  little  in  Hindustani,  their 
admiration  was  unbounded.  He  assured  them, 
however,  that  where  he  came  from,  there  were 
Karens  who  knew  much  more  than  he. 

"Now,"  he  said,  "let  me  start  a  school  and 
teach  your  children."  Most  of  the  children  were 
being  taught  in  a  Buddhist  monastery,  after  the 
manner  of  the  country,  but  a  few  of  the  stupidest 
were  brought  together  and  he  was  permitted  to  try 
his  hand  on  them — they  were  so  dull  that  he  prob- 


THE  NEED  FOR  MISSIONARIES      165 

ably  could  not  damage  their  comprehensions  any 
way !  What  was  the  amazement  of  all  to  find  that 
these  pupils  made  more  progress  in  their  studies 
under  him  in  a  month  than  they  had  made  before 
in  a  whole  year  in  the  monastery.  This  was  not 
particularly  strange,  for  in  the  monasteries  chil- 
dren are  taught  by  the  most  disapproved  methods 
of  modern  pedagogy.  They  are  made  to  yell  out 
their  lessons  at  the  top  of  their  voices — this  is  to 
assure  the  teacher  they  are  studying.  The  boy  that 
shouts  the  loudest  in  considered  the  best  scholar — 
for  no  girls  are  allowed.  If  any  boy  fails  in  his 
lesson  or  makes  a  mistake  in  writing,  he  is  given  a 
sharp  rap  on  the  knuckles.  The  result  is  that 
people  taught  under  this  method  cannot  read  unless 
they  read  aloud,  and  even  then  they  often  do  not 
understand  what  they  are  reading.  Many  a  voice 
is  made  husky  and  ruined  for  life,  while  the  ordi- 
nary conversation  of  the  people  is  loud  enough  to 
fill  a  large  auditorium.  Two  men  walking  side 
by  side  on  the  public  highway,  conversing,  can  often 
be  heard  a  block  away. 

The  young  man  taught  his  little  school  faith- 
fully, and  soon  the  attendance  rose  from  fifteen 
at  the  beginning  of  the  rainy  season  to  eighty-five 
at  the  close,  about  four  months  later.  When  he 
had  won  the  confidence  of  the  people,  he  said  to 
them: 

"When  I  first  came,  you  asked  me  if  I  was 
Jesus  Christ.    I  am  not  Jesus  Christ,  but  a  disciple 


166  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

of  his.  You  asked  me  if  I  was  the  white  book. 
I  am  not  the  white  book,  but  I  believe  in  the  white 
book,  the  bible.  You  asked  me  if  I  was  a  diver. 
I  am  not  a  diver,  but  a  dipper."  Then  he  was 
permitted  to  preach  to  them,  and  now  a  goodly 
number  have  been  converted  through  his  efforts. 

A  native  evangelist  who  was  preaching  to  a 
little  group  of  people  was  once  suddenly  accosted 
by  a  group  of  Buddhist  rowdies. 

**Here  you  are  at  last!"  said  their  leader.  "We 
have  been  looking  for  you  all  day — to  preadi  to 
us." 

"That  IS  very  strange,"  replied  the  preacher, 
quietly,  "for  I  too  have  been  looking  for  you;  and 
now  what  shall  I  preach  about?" 

"Oh,  anything,"  replied  his  would-be  audience, 
somewhat  abashed  by  his  calm  demeanor.  He 
preached  to  them  an  hour  or  two  until  they  began 
to  feel  that  their  joke  was  growing  tame,  so  they 
interrupted. 

"Come,  now,  that  is  all  right,  but  what  we  want 
to  know  is,  which  is  the  greater,  our  Buddha  or 
your  Christ."  The  preached  hesitated  a  moment 
as  if  pondering  deeply,  then  answered  with  a 
smile : 

"I  think  I  shall  have  to  be  like  the  rabbit." 

"Like  the  rabbit?"  they  asked  in  surprise. 
"What  do  you  mean?" 

"Why,  have  you  never  heard  the  story  of  the 
rabbit?"  said  the  evangelist  incredulously.    "Then 


THE  NEED  FOR  MISSIONARIES      167 

I  shall  have  to  tell  it  to  you."    And  he  related  the 
following : 

Once  upon  a  time,  the  lion,  king  of  bests,  sum- 
moned his  subjects  to  smell  of  his  breath.  Now 
the  lion  had  been  feasting  on  carrion  that  day,  so 
the  deer,  who  came  first,  took  a  whiff  and  said: 

"Your  Majesty,  your  breath  is  very  offensive. 
In  fact,  it  is  vile.'' 

'What!  do  you  talk  that  way  to  your  king? 
Do  you  insult  me  ?"  thundered  the  lion,  as  with  one 
stroke  of  his  great  paw  he  knocked  the  deer  to  the 
ground.  Next  he  called  to  him  the  fox  who  care- 
fully  sniffed  the  royal  breath  and  said : 

''Oh,  your  Majesty,  your  breath  is  very  sweet. 
It  is  as  fragrant  as  the  jasmine  flower." 

"What!     You  know  my  breath  is  never  fra- 
grant!    Will  you  lie  to  your  king?"  roared  the 
chief,  and  knocked  him  down  as  he  had  the  deer. 
Next  to  be  called  was  the  rabbit  whose  heart 
went  pit-a-pat.    The  lion  said  to  him  gruffly: 

"How  small  you  are!  You  would  make  just 
about  one  mouthful  for  such  as  I."  This  speech 
made  the  poor  little  rabbit's  heart  beat  faster  than 
ever,  but  he  replied  simply: 

"This  is  as  big  as  we  grow."  Then  the  great 
beast  leaned  down  his  shaggy  head  and  opened  his 
fearful  jaws  until  the  trembling  little  creature 
thought  he  would  surely  be  swallowed  alive. 

^  "Smell  my  breath,"  the  lion  roared.     The  rab- 
bit raised  his  little  nose,  and  gravely  sniffed  once 


168  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

• — twice — then  turned  away.  Again  he  lifted  his 
nose,  "sniff,  sniff."  The  king  awaited  his  decision, 
but  again  the  rabbit  turned  away.  Thus  he  did  a 
third  time  and  a  fourth  until  the  king,  becoming 
impatient,  cried: 

*'There,  now,  you  have  smelled  times  enough. 
What  does  it  smell  like  ?" 

*Tour  Majesty,"  murmured  the  rabbit,  *'I  live 
in  the  deep  jungle ;  I  go  out  in  the  early  morning  to 
graze  in  the  meadows;  the  dew  falls  on  my  head, 
and  I  have  such  a  terrible  cold  that  your  breath 
does  not  smell  of  anything." 

Of  course  the  lion  could  do  nothing  to  the  rab- 
bit, and  when  the  rowdies  saw  the  point  of  the 
story,  they  realized  that  they  could  get  no  advan- 
tage of  the  preacher,  and  good-naturedly  with- 
drew. 

One  could  perhaps  wish  that  the  preacher  had 
been  more  bold  and  had  declared  fearlessly  the 
superiority  of  Christ  to  Buddha,  but  he  under- 
stood the  temper  of  the  people  with  whom  he  was 
dealing,  and  he  probably  did  the  wiser  thing.  He 
disarmed  his  antagonists,  and  at  the  same  time 
won  their  respect  for  his  sagacity,  and  if,  at  a  later 
time,  he  had  an  opportunity  to  meet  any  of  them 
singly,  he  would  find  them  at  least  cordial  to  him 
and  perhaps  open  to  his  instructions. 

These  incidents  illustrate  present  conditions  only. 
They  show  that  already  the  Christian  evangelist 
must  use  wisdom  and  discretion  in  dealing  with  the 


THE  NEED  FOR  MISSIONARIES      169 

heathen.  These  are  probably  more  difficult  to 
reach,  in  some  respects,  now  than  they  were  fifty 
years  ago,  and  conditions  are  heading  up  for  a  still 
mightier  struggle  later  on.  Burma  is  the  strong- 
hold of  Buddhism,  which  is,  without  doubt,  the 
best  equipped  system  of  heathen  philosophy  and 
religion  in  existence.  This  faith  is  becoming  more 
and  more  conscious  of  itself,  and  is  planning  for  a 
settled  conflict  with  Christianity.  The  Young 
Men's  Buddhist  Association  is  being  organized  in 
competition  with  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation ;  Buddhist  Sunday  Schools  are  being  held  in 
imitation  of  Christian  Sunday  Schools.  So  far  as 
possible,  wherever  there  is  a  mission  day  school  a 
Buddhist  day  school  is  being  started  alongside  of 
it.  And,  not  content  to  let  the  native  Buddhist 
fight  it  out  by  himself,  men  of  so-called  Christian 
lands  are  doing  their  best  to  embitter  the  conflict. 
The  writings  of  Tom  Paine  and  other  western 
atheists  and  agnostics  are  being  published  and  cir- 
culated broadcast.  Not  infrequently  the  mission- 
ary is  approached  by  some  disciple  who  has  become 
perplexed  by  such  propaganda.  Some  people  are 
troubled  because  they  think  that  crass  Tom  Paine- 
ism  is  being  revamped  and  taught  under  a  new 
guise  in  some  of  the  theological  schools  of  Amer- 
ica, but,  even  if  that  were  true,  when  one  knows  of 
the  conscienceless  way  In  which  those  long  ex- 
ploded criticisms  of  the  bible  are  being  used  to 
hinder  the  cause  of  truth  in  heathen  lands,  one 


170  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

feels  like  the  old-time  minister  who,  when  asked  if 
he  believed  in  deacons'  dancing,  said,  yes,  he 
wished  the  deacons  would  do  all  the  dancing.  What 
if  a  few  scholars  in  America  are  disposed  to  put 
a  new  dress  on  ancient  forms  of  agnosticism  and 
call  it  by  some  more  euphonious  name!  Would 
that  they  had  it  all,  for  it  would  do  less  harm  there, 
where  people  of  inteUigence  are  able  to  estimate  it 
at  its  true  value  than  on  the  mission  field,  where 
the  Christian  converts  already  have  problems 
enough  of  their  own,  and,  however  true  and  loyal 
they  may  be,  nevertheless  lack  the  heritage  of 
Christian  tradition  and  doctrine  and  life  which 
gives  firmness  and  stability  to  their  brethren  of 
the  West. 

Is  the  part  of  the  missionary  clear?  The  out- 
look, although  gloomy,  is  by  no  means  hopeless. 
As  to  the  physical  surroundings  of  the  people,  with 
advancement  in  understanding  and  enlightenment 
these  will  gradually  improve.  Of  course  the  dis- 
eases which  prevail  cannot  be  at  once  suppressed; 
they  must  be  met  with  intelligence  and  courage. 
The  government  is  doing  what  it  can  for  the  relief 
of  the  people.  It  has  its  hospitals  with  doctors  in 
charge  who  dispense  medicines  freely  to  all  that 
come,  and  these  hospitals  are  placed  in  nearly  every 
important  center.  But  they  cannot  reach  all  the 
people,  and  there  is  needed  some  one  to  act  as 
intermediary  and  bring  the  hospitals  and  the  people 
together.     For  Karens  have  their  ideas  of  medi- 


THE  NEED  FOR  MISSIONARIES       171 

cine  as  have  westerners  and  they  are  not  to  be 
lightly  convinced  of  the  superiority  of  other  meth- 
ods to  their  own.  They  talk  impressively  of  the 
ninety-eight  kinds  of  wind  in  the  system,  as  occi- 
dental doctors,  not  so  very  many  years  ago,  used 
to  discourse  learnedly  of  the  humors  of  the  body. 
To  be  sure,  they  do  not  always  succeed  in  curing 
the  ailments  of  mankind,  but  there  are  others  who 
also  fail.  On  the  other  hand,  they  sometimes  seem 
to  achieve  results  where  scientifically  trained  phy- 
sicians have  been  baffled.  The  writer  has  been 
credibly  informed  of  instances  in  which  cases  of 
tetanus  that  had  been  given  up  as  hopeless  by  for- 
eign doctors,  have  been  cured.  As  to  western  no- 
tions, what  could  be  more  absurd,  from  the  Karen 
standpoint,  than  to  suppose  that  there  is  any  con- 
nection between  malaria  and  mosquitoes,  or  that 
the  germ  of  cholera  may  be  lurking  in  water  which 
appears  to  be  perfectly  pure  and  sweet,  or  that  the 
remedy  for  hydrophobia  is  to  be  found  in  some- 
thing taken  from  a  rabbit  ?  Some  are  beginning  to 
appreciate  the  value  of  western  methods,  but  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  not  all  do  so.  The  mis- 
sionary, as  he  travels  about  among  his  people,  even 
though  he  may  have  had  no  medical  training,  car- 
ries with  him  simple  remedies  for  the  healing  of 
the  sick,  and  the  fact  that  he  has  a  sense  of  racial 
differences  and  prejudices  and  knows  how  to  make 
allowances  for  them,  enables  him  to  accomplish 
oftentimes  what  those  who  are  ignorant  of  such 


172  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

things  or  less  patient  than  he,  cannot  do.  More- 
over, he  can  be  depended  upon  to  persevere  in  his 
work  of  instilling  broader  ideas  and  more  just 
conceptions. 

The  economic  problem  is  difficult,  but  it  is  not 
to  be  despaired  of.  No  doubt  it  demands  prompt 
attention,  for  other  indigenous  races  have  suc- 
cumbed to  far  less  strenuous  conditions  than  are 
confronting  the  Karens.  Some  missionaries  afe 
already  giving  earnest  consideration  to  it.  It  de- 
serves careful  and  thorough-going  study.  The  solu- 
tion probably  lies  not  in  pampering  the  people  in 
any  way,  or  in  trying  to  make  their  conditions  any 
easier — which  would  be  a  perfectly  futile  thing  to 
attempt — ^but  in  teaching  them  how  to  meet  the 
conditions  and  overcome  them  by  their  own  skill 
and  industry.  To  this  end  are  required  men  of 
special  training  who  shall  make  a  thorough  study 
of  the  situation  on  the  ground  and  give  that  initial 
impetus  which  the  people  cannot  themselves  get 
without  assistance.  In  a  later  chapter,  the  possi- 
bilities along  this  line  will  be  mentioned  more  at 
length;  suffice  it  here  to  point  out  the  importance 
of  the  subject. 

Of  the  religious  conditions  now  confronting  the 
Karens,  and  of  the  great  spiritual  conflict  which 
awaits  the  entire  Christian  world,  it  is  enough  to 
say  that  no  one  who  believes  in  the  promises  of 
God  can  doubt  what  the  outcome  will  be.  Truth 
will  prevail.     The  gospel  of  grace  will  triumph. 


THE  NEED  FOR  MISSIONARIES       173 

One  who  is  worthy  of  all  blessing  will  be  crowned 
King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords.  But  if  not  only 
the  subtlest  minds  of  the  East,  but  also  some  of  the 
best  trained  minds  of  the  West  are  to  be  arrayed 
on  the  side  of  error  and  falsehood,  shall  the  native 
Christians  be  left  to  fight  out  the  battle  alone? 
Let  it  be  remembered  that  some  of  the  most  regret- 
table mistakes  of  the  past  in  mission  policy  have 
been  made  in  leaving  new  converts  from  heathen- 
ism too  soon  to  themselves.  The  Karen  Chris- 
tians of  Burma  may,  in  many  respects,  challenge 
comparison  with  the  people  of  God  anywhere,  but, 
as  has  been  said  before,  they  have  not  back  of  them 
that  long  tradition  of  Christian  life  and  service  and 
doctrine  which  have  made  their  western  brethren 
strong. 

But  what  if  the  missionary  cannot  help,  he  may 
at  least  be  able  to  cheer.  It  was  a  lonely  little 
village  in  the  jungle.  The  visitor  was  asked  to  go 
and  see  a  man  who  was  a  paralytic.^  He  found  him 
a  pitiful  object,  almost  helpless,  lying  by  the  hearth 
' — which  was  merely  a  slightly  raised  place  on  the 
floor  of  the  wretched  hut  where  a  sufficient  quan- 
tity of  ashes  had  been  placed  so  that  a  fire  might 
be  built  on  them  without  setting  the  house  in  a 
blaze,  and  as  he  lay  there  the  filth  of  the  hearth 
had  blown  upon  him  and  covered  him.  He  could 
not  bathe  himself  or  do  anything  for  his  comfort. 
A  niece  was  there  to  care  for  him.  She  did  what 
she  could,  but  she  was  young  and  found  him  a 


174  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

burden  to  her,  poor  thing.  The  missionary  ol 
course  could  do  nothing  to  cure  the  disease.  He 
simply  spoke  a  few  words  of  cheer — there  seemed, 
oh,  so  little  that  he  could  say — offered  a  prayer, 
and  went  away.  The  next  year  he  came  to  the 
place  again  and  learned  that  the  man  was  still  liv- 
ing. When  he  called  to  see  him,  he  said  to  the 
missionary: 

"Teacher,  since  you  were  here  last  year  I  have 
often  been  so  miserable  that  I  wanted  to  put  an 
end  to  my  own  life,  but  I  have  thought  of  what 
you  said,  and  that  has  strengthened  me." 

Was  it  worth  while  ?  Is  it  ever  worth  while  to 
cheer  the  people  of  God  when  one  cannot  help 
them? 

The  ponies  in  the  midst  of  the  maddening  cur- 
rent, the  steersman  at  the  stern,  the  man  in  the 
boat — this  is  the  picture.  The  maddening  current 
of  conditions  surrounding  the  disciples  has  been 
described,  however  inadequately.  Thank  God, 
there  is  a  boat  there,  and  at  the  stern,  strong, 
ready,  resourceful,  stands  the  Master.  Is  the  mis- 
sionary needed?  Let  him  who  is  thoughtful  con- 
sider. 


XIII 
KAREN  CHARACTERISTICS 

THE  man  In  the  boat  cheering  and  encourag- 
ing his  struggling  ponies  who  know  his  voice 
is  the  picture  which  has  been  drawn,  in  a 
previous  chapter,  of  the  missionary  in  his  relations 
to  the  native  Christians  under  his  care.  The  great 
task  of  the  missionary  is  to  help,  encourage  and 
strengthen  God's  people  in  every  way  he  can.  In 
order  to  do  so  he  must  win  their  confidence,  and 
in  order  to  win  their  confidence  he  must  know 
them  intimately  and  have  a  sympathetic  under- 
standing of  their  lives,  their  thoughts  and  their 
inmost  desires. 

What  are  some  of  the  dominant  characteristics 
of  the  Karen  people?  Their  physical  appearance 
has  already  been  briefly  described.  They  are  short 
of  stature,  supple  and  active.  A  man  six  feet  tall 
towers  among  them  almost  like  a  giant.  In  fea- 
tures, they  have  the  broad,  flat  face,  with  the  wide 
nostrils  of  the  Mongolian;  their  skin  is  light  brown 
in  color,  not  unlike  that  of  the  Chinese,  but  they 
have  not  the  latter's  almond  eyes.  The  hair  is 
straight  and  black.  Men  as  well  as  women  for- 
merly wore  their  hair  long,  and  did  it  up  in  a  ball- 
shaped  knot  on  top  of  the  head,  but  now  they  are 

i2Sj 


176  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

more  and  more  adopting  the  customs  of  white 
people  and  cutting  it  short.  In  general,  the  Karens 
have  good  powers  of  endurance,  especially  those 
who  live  in  the  hills. 

Many  Karens  of  the  present  day  are  coming  to 
wear  the  costume  of  the  Burmese,  with  its  flowing 
skirts  and  short,  loose  coats,  but  the  typical  Karen 
costume  is  exceedingly  simple.  For  the  men,  it 
consists  of  a  sleeveless  jacket  made  out  of  two 
straight  pieces  of  cloth.  This  cloth  is  woven  in  a 
small  hand  loom,  and  is  only  twelve  to  fifteen  in- 
ches wide.  The  two  strips  are  sewn  together  at 
the  sides  in  such  a  way  as  to  have  much  the  appear- 
ance of  a  bag,  but  with  openings,  where  the  bottom 
of  the  bag  would  be,  for  the  head  and  arms.  This 
"bag"  Is  slipped  on  with  the  mouth  down,  and 
reaches  to  a  little  below  the  knees.  It  is  the  sole 
garment  of  the  men  except  for  a  narrow,  straight 
piece  of  cloth  sometimes  worn  as  a  turban.  The 
material  is  white  cotton,  often  with  red  stripes  or 
bands  across  the  bottom  of  the  jacket.  In  the  olden 
days,  the  number  and  breadth  of  these  stripes  used 
to  Indicate  the  tribe  or  family  of  the  wearer,  much 
as  the  Scotch  clans  have  their  special  plaids.  In 
regard  to  the  costume  of  the  women,  customs  ilffer 
according  to  locality.  In  some  parts  women  wear 
a  long,  white  jacket  of  the  same  pattern  as  the 
men,  but  reaching  down  to  the  feet,  until  they  are 
married.  This  was,  perhaps,  the  universal  custom 
in  the  early  days.     After  marriage  they  wear  a 


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1  -^ 

KAREN  CHARACTERISTICS  177 

shorter  jacket  and  a  skirt.  The  former  is  usually 
of  dark  blue  cotton  spun,  woven  and  dyed  by  the 
owner  herself.  These  jackets  are  frequently  orna- 
mented very  tastefully  with  simple  patterns,  em- 
broidered in  red  thread  and  with  white  seeds,  of  a 
variety  found  in  the  jungle,  about  an  inch  long  and 
as  large  around  as  a  coarse  darning-needle.  These 
seeds, are  very  hard  and  have  the  appearance  al- 
most of  ivory.  The  skirt  consists  of  two  straight 
pieces  of  native  cloth,  sewn  together  lengthwise 
and  then  at  the  ends,  making  the  skirt  the  same 
width  at  the  top  and  bottom.  To  fasten  it  no 
pins,  buttons,  hooks  and  eyes  or  puckering  strings 
are  used;  the  skirt  is  simply  folded  over  from  one 
side  to  the  other  in  front  and  the  outer  fold  tucked 
in.  The  cloth  for  the  skirt  has  stripes  of  various 
widths  and  colors  running  the  length  of  the  goods 
so  in  the  finished  garment  the  stripes  run  horizon- 
tally around  the  person.  A  turban  of  narrow, 
white  cloth,  decorated  with  a  design  in  red,  is 
thrown  gracefully  around  the  head.  The  dress  of 
the  men  is  so  plain  as  to  be  almost  ugly,  but  that 
of  the  women  is  often  very  attractive  and  pleasing. 
By  occupation  the  Karens,  with  the  exception  of 
those  who,  owing  to  their  educational  advantages, 
have  taken  up  such  professions  as  teaching,  law, 
and  medicine,  are  nearly  all  farmers.  The  oriental 
is  generally  supposed  to  be  lazy,  but  those  who 
know  the  manner  of  life  of  the  Karens  would  not 
be  likely  to  give  them  such  a  title.    There  are  two 


178  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

kinds  of  farming  In  Burma,  lowland  and  upland. 
Rice  is  the  staple  product  of  the  soil  In  Lower 
Burma,  where  the  Karens  live,  and  lowland  farm- 
ing is  the  cultivation  of  rice  on  the  plains,  while 
upland  farming  is  the  cultivation  of  rice  in  the 
hills.  The  former  is  arduous  enough.  Soon  after 
the  rains  begin,  about  the  first  of  June,  when  the 
ground  is  well  soaked  up  one  of  the  small  plots 
into  which  the  field  is  divided  is  plowed  and  care- 
fully harrowed  with  a  rude  native  harrow  until 
all  the  grasses  and  weeds  have  been  removed. 
Then,  with  the  water  standing  about  six  Inches 
deep,  the  seed  is  sown  broadcast,  very  thickly  in 
this  little  plot,  which  is  really  a  nursery  bed.  While 
this  is  growing  up,  others  are  being  prepared  in  a 
similar  way.  When  the  rice  In  the  nursery  plot  is 
a  foot  and  a  half  high,  it  is  pulled  up  by  the  roots 
and  gathered  Into  bundles.  Then  it  is  trans- 
planted, blade  by  blade,  about  a  foot  apart  over 
the  other  plots.  As  the  rice  grows  up  It  stools  out, 
sometimes  as  high  as  sixty  shoots  coming  out  of  a 
single  head,  and  these  fill  up  the  Intervening  spaces. 
When  the  grain  is  ripe,  it  is  reaped  by  means  of  a 
hand  sickle,  gathered  into  bundles  or  sheaves  and 
threshed  by  being  trodden  out  under  the  feet  of 
oxen  or  buffaloes. 

But  arduous  as  is  the  work  of  lowland  cultiva- 
tion, upland  farming  is  still  more  difficult.  Per- 
haps it  cannot  be  better  described  than  by  telling 
a  Karen  folk-tale  of  the  crow.    It  is  said  that  in  the 


KAREN  CHARACTERISTICS  179 

beginning  the  crow  was  asked  how  it  would  make 
its  living,  would  it  do  upland  farming?  The  crow 
was  wary,  and  turning  its  head  first  on  one  side  and 
then  on  the  other  reflectively,  it  asked: 

"How  do  you  make  your  living  by  upland  farm- 
ing?" 

'Tirst  of  all,"  it  was  told,  "you  must  cut  down 
a  fresh  tract  of  forest."  It  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  Karen  living  in  the  hills  has  to  do 
this  for  every  crop  of  rice  that  he  raises.  He  may 
require  from  thirty  to  fifty  acres,  according  to  the 
size  of  his  family  and  the  quality  of  the  soil.  He 
lets  the  timber  lie  for  about  a  month  until  it  is 
dried  out  by  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and  then  burns 
it  over,  and  the  ashes  seem  to  fertilize  the  soil 
enough  so  that  he  can  raise  a  single  crop.  After 
that,  he  must  let  the  land  lie  fallow  for  from  five 
to  fifteen  or  even  twenty  years,  to  grow  forest  again 
before  he  can  cultivate  another  crop.  When  the 
crow  was  told  that  he  must  cut  down  a  tract  of 
forest  he  asked: 

"Do  you  eat  then?" 

"No,"  he  was  informed,  "you  have  to  let  it  lie 
for  about  a  month  to  dry  out." 

"Well,  do  you  eat  then?"  he  inquired  again. 

"Oh,  no,  you  have  to  burn  it  over." 

"Well,  do  you  eat  then?"  said  the  crow. 

"No,  you  have  to  grub  out  the  roots  and  gather 
the  pieces  which  have  not  been  burned  the  first 
time,  and  have  a  second  burning." 


180  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

"Well,  do  you  eat  then?'' 

*'0h,  no,  you  have  to  take  a  small  stick  and 
dibble  the  ground  for  the  seed,  making  holes 
at  suitable  distances  apart  and  dropping  in  the 
grain." 

*'Well,  do  you  eat  then?" 

*'No,  you  have  to  let  the  seed  sprout  up  and 
grow." 

**Well,  do  you  eat  then?" 

**0h,  no,  while  the  rice  is  growing,  you  have  to 
take  a  knife  and  cut  out  the  weeds.  You  do  this 
two  or  three  times  in  the  course  of  a  season." 

"Well,  do  you  eat  then?" 

"Oh,  no,  you  have  to  make  a  fence  around  the 
entire  field."  And  the  fences  which  the  Karens 
make  around  their  fields  are  really  quite  remark- 
able. They  are  constructed  of  bamboo  or  of 
brush,  anything  they  find  conveniently  at  hand  in 
the  jungle,  but  they  have  to  be  so  closely  woven  as 
to  be  impenetrable  to  deer  or  wild  boar,  or  else 
the  crops  would  be  destroyed. 

"Well,"  inquired  the  crow  again,  "do  you  eat 
then?" 

"No,  indeed,  for  when  the  grain  begins  to  fill 
out,  you  have  to  drive  the  birds  away."  To  do 
this  a  bamboo  clapper  is  used,  that  is  a  bamboo, 
perhaps  five  or  six  inches  in  diameter,  which  has 
been  split  down  most  of  its  length.  One  part  is 
firmly  fixed  to  a  bit  of  framework  and  to  the  other 
is  attached  a  string  which  is  carried  off  to  a  small 


KAREN  CHARACTERISTICS  181 

hut  or  watch-tower  in  a  distant  part  of  the  field. 
When  the  birds  come,  as  they  often  do  in  large 
flocks,  especially  parrots,  the  watcher  pulls  the 
string  and  then  releases  it,  thus  sounding  the  clap- 
per, to  frighten  the  birds  away. 

"Well,  do  you  eat  then?"  again  came  the  crow's 
question. 

"Oh,  no,  when  the  grain  is  ripe,  you  have  to 
take  a  sickle  and  reap  it." 

"Well,  do  you  eat  then?" 

"No,  after  you  have  reaped  the  grain,  you  have 
to  gather  it  into  bundles  and  thresh  it."  The  grain 
is  threshed  by  taking  the  small  sheaves  in  the  hand 
and  beating  them  on  the  rim  of  a  large  basket, 
perhaps  eight  or  ten  feet  in  diameter,  made  of 
coarse  bamboo  splints.  The  rim  is  of  rattan  as 
big  as  a  man's  wrist,  and  the  whisp  of  grain  is 
beaten  against  this  until  the  heads  fall  off  into  the 
basket. 

"Well,  do  you  eat  then?"  persisted  the  crow. 

"Oh,  no,  after  you  have  threshed  out  the  grain, 
you  have  to  winnow  it."  For  this  purpose,  the 
grain,  mixed  with  coarse  chaff,  which  has  fallen 
into  the  basket,  is  taken  out  and  thrown  up  into 
the  air  and  the  wind  blows  the  chaff  away. 

"Well,  do  you  eat  then?"  This  again  from  the 
crow. 

"No,  you  have  to  build  a  granary."  The 
people  do  not  live  on  their  farms ;  they  are  obliged 
to  live  in  villages  for  the  sake  of  mutual  protection 


182  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

and  their  fields  may  be  miles  away  from  their 
homes.  They  do  not  store  the  rice  in  their  villages, 
but  build  small  granaries  for  It  out  in  the  fields. 

''But  do  you  eat  then?" 

''Oh,  no,  you  have  to  carry  the  grain  to  the 
village,  from  time  to  time  as  you  require  it.  In  a 
basket  on  your  back." 

"But  do  you  eat  then?" 

"Oh,  no,  you  have  to  pound  It  out  to  separate 
the  husk  from  the  kernel."  This  is  done  by  hand, 
by  means  of  a  wooden  pestle  and  mortar. 

"Well,  do  you  eat  then?" 

"No,  you  have  to  separate  the  kernels  from  the 
husks."  This  Is  done  by  a  curious  process  of  sift- 
ing the  pounded  grain  in  a  shallow  tray.  With  a 
peculiar  motion  of  the  hand  and  wrist,  the  husks 
and  lighter  parts  are  made  to  fly  off  the  tray,  leav- 
ing only  the  edible  portions. 

"But  do  you  eat  then?" 

"No,  you  have  to  wash  it  and  cook  it."  In  this 
manner  the  whole  process  was  described  from  be- 
ginning to  end,  and  the  crow  said  in  disgust: 

"No,  I  will  not  make  my  living  by  upland  farm- 
ing. I  will  steal  instead!"  So  from  that  day  to 
this,  the  crow  has  been  making  his  living  by  steal- 
ing, but  he  has  never  forgotten  his  repeated  ques- 
tion, "Do  you  eat  then?  Do  you  eat  then?" — > 
which  in  Karen  is,  "Aw-ah,  aw-ah,"  a  better  imita- 
tion of  the  call  of  the  crow  than  Is,  "Caw,  caw." 

The  life  of  the  hill  Karen  is  indeed  exceedingly 


KAREN  CHARACTERISTICS  183 

arduous.  He  must  begin  his  operations  In  the 
field  in  February,  and  continue  them  almost  con- 
stantly until  October.  From  November  to  Jan- 
uary he  must  be  collecting,  preparing  and  putting 
in  place  bamboos  for  the  building  or  repair  of  his 
house.  During  any  spare  intervals  he  must  be 
gathering  roots  and  herbs  to  eke  out  his  meager 
provisions. 

In  the  olden  times,  marriages  among  the  Karens 
were  always  arranged  by  the  elders  or  by  friends 
of  the  interested  parties.    It  would  have  been  con- 
sidered very  Improper  for  a  young  man  to  say  he 
would  like  to  marry  a  certain  young  woman,  or  for 
a  young  woman  to  express  a  preference  for  any 
particular  young  man.    It  is  still  by  no  means  un- 
usual, even  among  Christians,   for  marriages  to 
be  arranged  by  mutual  friends,  and  the  parties  not 
to  meet  until  their  wedding  day.     To  the  occi- 
dental all  this  seems,  of  course,  quite  an  absurd 
way  of  proceeding,  yet  the  results  among  orientals 
probably  prove  to  be  happy  as  often  as  in  western 
lands  where  the  young  people  decide  everything 
for    themselves.      With    the    Karens,    courtship 
comes  after  marriage.     The  writer  has  been  told 
of  instances  in  which,  when  the  wedding  ceremony 
had  been  performed,  the  woman  would  have  noth- 
ing to  do  with  her  husband.    But  the  latter  did  not 
take  it  111.     He  simply  went  away  and  stayed 
awhile,  then  came  back,  hung  around  a  little,  help- 
ing in  any  way  he  could,  went  away,  returned  after 


184  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

a  time  and  so  on,  until  at  length — it  might  not  be 
before  a  year  had  passed — he  won  the  affection  of 
the  woman  he  had  married  and  they  lived  happily 
together  as  husband  and  wife.  Many  a  Karen 
who  has  been  married  in  this  way  has  developed 
such  a  devoted  attachment  for  his  wife  that  if  she 
died  he  would  not  marry  again.  In  fact,  although 
no  hard  and  fast  custom  required  it,  this  was  the 
usual  practice  among  Karens  in  the  olden  time. 

Karen  ideas  of  death  and  the  under  world  are 
very  vague.  The  writer  once  went  to  a  heathen 
Karen  funeral  and,  among  other  things,  saw  a  shal- 
low bamboo  tray  turned  upside  down.  On  the  bot- 
tom of  the  tray  was  crudely  drawn  In  charcoal  a 
representation  of  a  tree  with  its  branches.  Some 
one  would  take  a  pebble,  put  it  on  the  extreme  end 
of  a  branch  of  the  tree,  repeat  some  kind  of  a 
lingo,  and  as  he  did  so,  move  the  pebble  down  to 
the  trunk  and  then  to  the  foot  of  the  tree.  This 
was  teaching  the  spirit  of  the  dead  to  climb  a  tree. 
For,  according  to  the  Karen  idea,  in  the  spirit 
world,  all  the  points  of  the  compass  and  all  direc- 
tions are  reversed.  Any  one  can  readily  under- 
stand how  that  might  be.  Conceive  of  the  earth 
as  a  flat  disk;  living  people  are  on  the  upper  side  of 
the  disk  with  their  feet  towards  it;  the  spirits 
of  the  dead  are  on  the  under  side,  with  their  feet 
up  towards  the  disk.  It  follows  that  what  is  east 
to  those  above  is  west  to  those  below,  west  is  east, 
north  IS  south  and  south  Is  north,  up  is  down  and 


KAREN  CHARACTERISTICS  185 

down  Is  up.  With  some  it  Is  customary,  as  soon  as  a 
person  dies,  to  tie  one  end  of  a  string  to  the  finger 
of  the  deceased  and  the  other  end  to  the  tail  of  a 
dog,  with  the  idea  that  the  dog  will  act  as  guide 
through  the  shadows  of  the  under  world,  and  one 
of  the  bitterest  epithets  which  the  heathen  some- 
times address  to  the  Christian  preacher  is  that  of 
Pilot  Dog.  Many  other  fantastic  conceptions  are 
held  which  need  not  be  mentioned  here. 

The  Karen  account  of  earthquakes  is  that  a  giant 
monster,  corresponding  somewhat  to  the  Greek 
Atlas,  has  been  condemned  to  support  the  earth  un- 
til all  the  Inhabitants  have  died  off.  Now  and 
then  a  worm  wriggles  out  upon  his  shoulder,  and 
he  concludes  that  the  people  on  earth  have  all 
died,  that  the  worms  have  consumed  their  bodies, 
and,  finding  nothing  else  to  eat,  have  gone  in  search 
of  further  forage.  He  therefore  concludes  that 
his  task  is  at  an  end,  and  proceeds  to  let  down  the 
earth.  This  produces  the  earthquake.  Conse- 
quently, whenever  the  heathen  feel  an  earthquake, 
they  always  call  out: 

*'We  are  here  still!  We  are  here  still!"  and 
then  he  rights  It  up  again.  The  fact  that  their 
method  of  putting  a  stop  to  earthquakes  has  been 
successful  every  time  thus  far  demonstrates  to 
their  minds  the  truth  of  their  theory. 

Intellectually,  the  Karens  are  really  brighter 
than  they  are  likely  at  first  to  appear.  Owing  to  a 
certain  shyness  on  their  part  one  needs  to  be  pretty 


186  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

well  acquainted  with  them  to  know  of  what  they 
are  capable.  Those  who  do  not  understand  their 
language  and  see  them  side  by  side  with  the  Bur- 
mese, usually  think  they  are  stupid.  This  is  par- 
ticularly the  case  when  the  Burman  has  the  initial 
advantage  of  using  his  own  language;  moreover, 
he  is  free  from  the  shyness  which  oppresses  the 
Karen — the  result  probably  of  his  hundreds  of 
years  of  political  subjection — so  he  expresses  him- 
self more  readily.  The  Burman  is  usually  able  to 
show  off  for  what  he  is  worth,  perhaps  for  a  little 
more.  The  Karen,  on  the  other  hand,  one  may 
have  to  know  a  long  while  before  he  really  knows 
him  at  all.  Those  who  see  the  Burman  and  the 
Karen  side  by  side,  day  after  day  and  year  after 
year,  do  not  feel  that  the  latter  is  the  inferior  of 
the  two.  The  writer  has  been  told  by  instructors 
in  schools  for  higher  education,  where  there  are 
various  nationalities  in  residence,  that  Karen  stu- 
dents do  better  in  their  studies  on  the  whole  than 
Burmese  students. 

Probably  no  one  would  claim  for  the  Karen  that 
he  has  a  philosophical  mind.  He  has  no  liking 
for  delving  into  the  mystery  of  things  which  no 
one  can  know  anything  about.  He  has  originated 
no  speculative  scheme  like  the  "chain  of  contingent 
existences'*  of  the  Buddhists.  He  has  no  vocabu- 
lary for  expressing  such  ideas.  His  language  is 
wanting  in  abstract  terms,  and  many  ideas  which 
are  perfectly  familiar  to  the  occidental  almost  defy 


KAREN  CHARACTERISTICS  187 

expression  until  they  have  been  put  into  a  concrete 
form.  But  the  lack  of  such  terms  does  not  prove 
that  these  people  are  incapable  of  deep  and  sus- 
tained thought.  Not  many  years  ago  it  was  sup- 
posed that  some  of  the  aboriginal  tribes  of  Aus- 
tralia were  entirely  lacking  in  mathematical  ability. 
They  had  no  way  of  counting  in  their  language 
above  four  or  ^ve;  but  that  was  solely  because  in 
their  simple  manner  of  life  they  had  no  need  to 
count  above  that  number.  Now,  members  of  those 
same  tribes  are  employed  by  sheep-raisers  to  count 
their  sheep.  The  sheep  are  made  to  go  through  a 
narrow  passage,  and  these  men  will  count  by  the 
hundreds  and  thousands  without  ever  making  an 
error.  The  world  in  which  the  Karen  has  lived 
has  not  called  out  his  powers  of  thought  but  that 
by  no  means  proves  that  his  analytical  faculties  are 
wanting.  Nor  is  simplicity  of  language  altogether 
a  disadvantage.  The  clearest  waters  are  often  the 
deepest.  Simplicity  of  language  is  often  a  help 
to  clarity  of  thought.  In  fact  to  be  compelled  to 
speak  or  write  in  a  language  like  the  Karen  is  an 
excellent  discipline  for  the  mind.  The  preacher, 
for  instance,  must  know  with  absolute  clearness 
what  he  has  to  say,  but  if  he  has  thought  his  sub- 
ject through  and  has  a  fair  command  of  the  lan- 
guage, he  will  usually  be  able  to  express  himself. 
Generally  speaking,  anything  which  is  worth  say- 
ing in  any  language  can  be  said  in  the  Karen.  Of 
course  the  method  of  expression  must  be  suited  to 


188  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

the  people,  but  that  is  merely  a  matter  of  rhetoric, 
of  the  choice  of  suitable  illustrations,  figures  of 
speech  and  so  forth;  the  real  essence  of  the  thought 
may  remain  unchanged.  The  writer  has  preached 
a  sermon  with  equal  acceptance,  so  far  as  he  could 
judge,  in  Karen  one  Sunday  to  an  audience  com- 
posed of  pupils  and  teachers  in  a  middle  school, 
and  in  English  the  next  Sunday  to  an  audience  com- 
posed largely  of  missionaries.  If  any  one  thinks 
that  because  the  Karens  are  a  simple  minded  people 
he  can  dish  out  almost  anything  to  them,  he  is 
likely  to  be  disappointed.  The  best  that  he  can 
give,  however  wide  may  have  been  the  range  of  his 
previous  preparation,  he  Is  likely  to  find  is  none 
too  good.  On  the  other  hand,  if  he  has  something 
worth  while  to  offer,  he  will  feel  no  lack  of  re- 
sponsiveness and  appreciation. 

But  it  is  of  temperamental  characteristics  that 
the  missionary  needs  perhaps  to  know  the  most  if 
he  would  be  a  helpful  guide.  And  it  has  to  be 
confessed  that  the  Karens  are  not  easy  to  under- 
stand. This  is  probably  due  to  the  long  years  of 
oppression  through  which  they  have  passed  and 
which  have  necessarily  meant  for  them  repression. 
On  first  acquaintance  they  seem — and  it  is  prob- 
ably their  own  feeling  about  themselves — to  be  a 
meek,  docile,  submissive,  almost  obsequious  people. 
In  fact  their  own  name  for  themselves  comes  near 
to  meaning  "easy."  The  writer  has  frequently 
heard  Karen  preachers  dwell  on  this  as  represent- 


KAREN  CHARACTERISTICS  189 

ing  one  trait  In  the  Karen  character.  But  men 
are  usually  the  opposite  of  what  they  profess  to 
be,  or  really  think  they  are.  No  miser  regards 
himself  as  penurious.  On  the  other  hand  the 
true  philanthropist  never  prides  himself  on  his 
philanthropy,  but  may  the  rather  often  upbraid 
himself  for  his  want  of  charity.  The  proud  con- 
siders himself  humble,  and  the  really  humble  is 
fearful  of  his  pride.  The  honest  man  need  never 
say  anything  about  his  honesty;  it  is  only  rogues 
who  have  occasion  to  do  that.  Those  who  boast 
themselves  of  their  liberalism  are  often  the  most 
bigoted,  and  those  who  make  no  pretentions  to 
broad-mindedness  may  be  really  the  least  narrow 
in  their  views.  And  so  a  person  who  speaks  of 
himself  as  being  ''easy,"  is  generally  about  the  last 
person  in  the  world  whom  one  may  expect  to  find 
subservient.  It  almost  seems  as  if  the  Karens  them- 
selves had  felt  this,  and  so  they  do  not  actually 
call  themselves  "easy,"  but  "just  going  to  be  easy," 
and  the  significant  fact  Is  that  they  never  arrive  at 
that  goal.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  quite  likely 
to  prove  high  spirited.  Independent,  determined. 

The  writer  once  had  an  experience  on  which  he 
has  often  reflected  with  Interest.  Hucksters  and 
venders  of  sweet-meats  were  giving  much  trouble 
by  coming  Into  the  school  compound  and  selling  to 
the  pupils  food  which  was  unfit  to  eat.  For  a 
time  they  were  driven  out  whenever  they  could  be 
discovered,  but,  that  method  proving  unavailing, 


190  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

the  rule  was  laid  down  that  no  pupil  should  buy. 
Not  long  after  that,  about  fifteen  of  the  pupils, 
including  some  of  the  best  boys  in  school,  were 
caught  in  the  very  act  of  buying  from  a  vender. 
They  were  duly  brought  up  for  discipline.  It  was 
decided  that  they  must  confess  before  the  entire 
school  body  and  promise  not  to  repeat  the  offense. 
But  when  the  time  came  and  their  names  were 
called  out,  to  the  surprise  of  the  missionary  they 
rose  one  by  one,  and  so  far  from  making  confes- 
sion or  showing  regret  in  any  way,  they  defended 
their  action  and  intimated  that  they  were  quite  dis- 
posed to  do  the  same  thing  again.  One  only  showed 
any  willingness  to  comply  with  the  requirements 
which  had  been  laid  down.  The  missionary  lis- 
tened quietly  until  all  had  spoken,  and  then  said: 
"I  am  perplexed  at  this.  You  know  that  you 
have  broken  the  rules  of  the  school,  which  were 
meant  for  your  own  good,  and  the  requirements 
which  have  been  laid  upon  you  are  none  too  rigid. 
I  know,  too,  that  many  of  you  are  Christians,  and 
want  to  do  what  is  pleasing  to  your  Saviour.  And 
yet  all  of  you  save  one  have  shown  a  defiant  spirit. 
I  do  not  understand  it.  Now,  first  of  all,  I  want 
to  know  that  my  own  skirts  are  clear,  and  if  the 
difficulty  rests  in  any  way  with  me,  I  want  you  to 
say  so.  If  I  have  done  wrong,  I  am  ready  to  con- 
fess it  and  make  it  right.*'  Then  some  of  the 
pupils,  said  that  they  did  feel  aggrieved  at  some 
rather  sharp  remarks  which  they  had  heard  the 


KAREN  CHARACTERISTICS  191 

missionary  make.  The  missionary  expressed  re- 
gret, and  finally  the  pupils  agreed  that  from  that 
time  on  they  would  abide  by  the  rules  of  the  school. 
The  missionary  did  not  learn  the  full  effect  of  his 
action  until  about  a  year  after,  when  the  headmas- 
ter of  the  school  told  him  that  the  pupils  felt  so 
ashamed  of  themselves  to  think  that  the  missionary 
had  been  willing  to  confess  his  fault  and  apologize 
for  it  while  they  had  attempted  to  justify  them- 
selves and  had  shown  a  defiant  spirit,  that  they 
did  not  know  what  to  do.  In  any  case  from  that 
time  on  the  school  experienced  no  further  difficulty 
from  the  venders;  they  might  come,  but  no  one 
would  buy. 

At  the  same  time  that  this  incident  occurred,  a 
fellow  missionary  was  visiting  In  the  home  of  the 
writer.  The  former  had  had  special  training  in 
pedagogy  and  had  had  much  experience  in  the  man- 
agement of  Burmese  schools.  On  hearing  what 
had  happened  he  said: 

"Well,  perhaps  you  are  right,  but  I  would  not 
do  that  way  in  dealing  with  Burmese  pupils."  In 
the  same  country,  living  side  by  side,  are  the  two 
races,  the  Karens  and  the  Burmans.  The  Karen 
seems  to  those  who  do  not  know  him  to  be  sub- 
servient, the  Burman  high-spirited.  In  fact,  the 
contrary  appears  to  be  the  case.  Certain  it  Is  that 
the  Karen  may  be  led,  but  never,  never  driven. 

Other  temperamental  characteristics  of  the 
Karens  might  be  dwelt  upon.     They  are  honest, 


192  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

truthful,  generous,  affectionate,  appreciative,  kind- 
ly, sympathetic,  well-intentioned.  The  writer  has 
dwelt  on  this  other  characteristic  more  fully,  per- 
haps because  he  admires  the  granite.  There  are 
two  uses  of  the  word  "tact."  As  frequently  em- 
ployed It  refers  to  such  conduct  as  is  calculated,  by 
shrewd  manipulation,  to  get  another  person  to  do 
what  he  would  not  otherwise  do.  This  Is  despic- 
able. But  true  and  honorable  tact  Involves  the 
rare  faculty  of  getting  the  point  of  view  of  the 
other  man  and  considering  any  question  which 
arises  from  that  position.  Any  one  who  would 
deal  with  people  of  another  race,  as  the  missionary 
has  to  do,  must  learn  to  sink  any  personal  likes  and 
dislikes,  to  suffer  often  the  defeat  of  his  plans,  and 
to  abide  In  patience,  not  desiring  to  lord  It  over 
God's  heritage,  but  content  if  In  love  and  meek- 
ness, he  Is  permitted  to  be  a  co-worker  with  them 
In  the  service  of  the  kingdom.  Such  an  one  in 
association  with  the  Karens  will  find  his  respect  for 
them  growing  continually,  and,  if  he  Is  a  man  of 
real  worth  In  himself,  he  will  prefer  that  they 
should  have  a  mind  of  their  own,  that  they  should 
think  out  their  own  problems  and  make  their  own 
decisions,  even  if  not  always  wise,  rather  than 
that  they  should  simply  listen  to  what  he  may  say. 


XIV 
A  NEGLECTED  OPPORTUNITY 

REFERENCE  has  been  made  in  a  previous 
chapter  to  the  stress  of  the  physical,  the 
economic  and  the  religious  conditions  in 
which  the  Karen  Christians  of  Burma  are  situated. 
The  physical  will  doubtless  be  met  in  time  with  the 
advance  of  civilization.  Even  tigers  and  snakes 
must  retire  before  the  encroachments  on  their  wild 
domains  of  human  progress  and  culture.  Of  the 
seriousness  of  the  religious  conflict  and  of  the 
obligation  resting  upon  American  Christians  to 
help  in  meeting  it,  something  further  will  be  said 
in  another  connection. 

The  economic  stress  is  present  and  urgent.  In 
a  large  majority  of  cases,  the  Karen  youth  return 
from  school  to  the  farm.  They  come  back  with  a 
broader  outlook  and  keener  minds,  but,  beyond 
that,  with  practically  no  training  which  will  help 
them  In  meeting  these  new  and  difficult  conditions. 
The  school  system  among  these  people  grew  up  at 
the  demand,  already  noted,  of  the  Karens  for 
knowledge.  With  certain  necessary  changes  and 
omissions,  it  followed  the  traditional  lines  of  edu- 

193 


194  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

cation  in  western  lands.  Even  in  those  countries 
vocational  training  was  almost  unheard  of  until 
within  perhaps  a  decade.  Naturally,  therefore, 
both  government  and  missionaries  emphasized  in 
their  curriculum  those  subjects  which  for  them 
meant  education.  Many,  however,  are  now  com- 
ing to  feel  that  in  devoting  so  large  a  proportion  of 
time  to  literary  studies  alone,  they  are  not  only 
losing  an  opportunity  to  help  the  Karen  of  today 
meet  the  rigors  of  his  life,  but  are  also  giving  a 
one-sided  view  of  western  civilization  and  the 
Christian  religion.  For,  nothwithstanding  the 
aspersions  which  are  often  cast  against  the  church, 
because  of  the  supposed  estrangement  between  it 
and  the  laboring  man,  it  may  be  said  that  one  of 
the  most  distinguishing  and  marked  characteristics 
of  Christianity  as  against  heathenism,  and  even  of 
evangelical  as  against  formalistic  Christianity,  is 
that  it  honors  labor  of  the  hands. 

Most  of  the  first  disciples  were  laboring  men. 
Jesus  himself  was  brought  up  at  the  carpenter^s 
bench.  Paul  labored  with  his  hands  unceasingly 
even  in  the  midst  of  most  strenuous  spiritual  en- 
deavors. A  hundred  years  ago.  In  England,  no 
gentleman  was  supposed  to  work,  and  the  revival 
of  evangelical  religion,  which  began  under  the 
Wesleys,  is  probably  largely  responsible  for  the 
fact  that  today  It  Is  rather  to  the  discredit  of  any 
one  to  be  Idle.  Englishmen  like  to  point  out  that 
the  king  himself  is  a  busy  man.     In  America  the 


A  NEGLECTED  OPPORTUNITY   195 

economic  situation,  together  with  the  comparative 
poverty  of  the  early  settlers,  have  combined  from 
the  first,  to  make  men  honor  labor  of  the  hands. 
But  wherever  there  has  been  any  serious  departure 
from  this  norm.  It  has  In  general  been  due  either 
to  a  direct  and  distinct  ebb  In  the  religious  life  of 
the  community  or  to  Its  Invasion  by  unevangellzed 
hordes  from  without,  who  have  brought  with  them 
and  subtly  disseminated  an  atmosphere  which,  by 
its  false  emphasis  on  class  distinctions  Is  foreign 
to  the  essence  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  really 
antagonistic  to  true  self-respect  and  hlghminded- 
ness.  Whatever  may  be  said  to  the  contrary,  it  is 
certainly  of  the  very  soul  and  spirit  of  a  genuine 
Christianity  to  honor  all  honest  labor;  and  in 
spite  of  its  detractors,  Christianity  is  the  only 
really  democratic  religion  In  the  world.  It  Is  there- 
fore with  no  little  apprehension  that  the  missionary 
notes  a  growing  tendency  on  the  part  of  the 
brighter  pupils  among  the  Karens  to  covet  some 
position  in  which  they  can  earn  their  living  without 
manual  labor,  instead  of  using  their  faculties  in 
plans  for  the  improvement  of  their  family  acres. 
For  improvement  in  agriculture  is  one  of  the  bene- 
fits of  civilization  which  the  Karen  people  need 
most  of  all,  In  view  of  the  present  stress,  and  are 
least  able  to  get  by  their  own  unaided  efforts. 

It  is  only  within  comparatively  recent  years  that 
adequate  attention  has  been  given  to  this  branch 
of  human  knowledge  even  in  America.    It  was  for- 


196  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

merly  supposed  that  almost  any  one  could  be  a 
farmer.  Now,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  coming  to 
be  understood  that  the  farmer,  more  than  almost 
any  one  else,  in  order  to  be  really  successful  and 
accomplish  the  best  results  along  the  line  of  his 
business,  needs  to  have  excellent  initial  ability  and 
fine  preparation.  But  it  was  long  before  people 
fully  appreciated  this  fact.  For  many  years  few 
of  the  brightest  young  men  went  to  colleges  of 
agriculture,  and  even  for  state  schools,  the  appro- 
priations of  legislatures  were  often  niggardly. 
Now  departments  and  schools  of  agriculture  can 
successfully  demand  almost  anything  they  require 
for  their  advancement,  and  in  normal  times  the  at- 
tendance at  schools  of  this  kind  comprises  many  of 
the  brightest  and  best.  Few  more  attractive  op- 
portunities are  offered  to  the  best  equipped  young 
men  of  the  rising  generation  than  along  the  line  of 
scientific  farming.  And  yet  this  condition  of  affairs 
was  not  brought  about  without  a  struggle.  Not 
until,  in  one  of  the  American  schools,  it  was  found 
that  improvements  in  dairy  products  alone  had 
more  than  compensated  the  state  for  all  it  had 
spent  on  its  agricultural  schools  during  a  period  of 
many  years,  did  people  begin  to  realize  the  possi- 
bilities of  which  this  department  of  human  knowl- 
edge was  capable.  Even  today  scientific  farming 
is  too  little  practiced,  and  long  years  will  yet  be 
required  before  the  possibilities  for  development 
before  the  American  farmer  are  exhausted. 


A  NEGLECTED  OPPORTUNITY   197 

In  Burma,  among  an  enlightened  people,  It  Is 
still  less  to  be  expected  that  an  intelligent  interest 
will  be  taken  in  agricultural  experimentation  and 
Investigation  which  would  stimulate  the  people  to 
devote  to  it,  of  themselves,  the  time,  energy,  pains- 
taking care  and  considerable  financial  expenditure 
which  would  enable  them  to  improve  their  In- 
herited and  long  estabhshed  methods.  Many  of 
the  Christian  Karens  are  eager  to  improve  their 
conditions,  but  they  have  seen  nothing  better,  and 
they  do  not  know  how  to  make  more  effective  what 
they  have.  If,  therefore,  they  are  to  make  any 
considerable  advancement  along  agricultural  lines 
In  the  near  future.  It  would  seem  that  this  must 
be  brought  to  them  from  without.  The  govern- 
ment is  sincerely  trying  to  do  what  It  can.  It  has 
its  Department  of  Agriculture,  with  a  Director  and 
two  or  three  deputies,  educated  In  English  or 
Canadian  institutions,  and  a  corps  of  native  assist- 
ants. It  is  starting  seed  farms  and  experiment 
stations,  and  Is  endeavoring,  to  the  best  of  Its 
ability,  to  discover  and  promulgate  better  methods. 
But,  however  much  the  government  may  accom- 
plish along  these  lines,  comparatively  little  bene- 
fit Is  likely  to  result  to  the  people  at  large,  especially 
to  the  Karens,  In  their  far-off  villages,  without  the 
intervention  of  the  missionary.  The  latter  are  in 
touch  with  the  people,  and  have  their  confidence; 
they  are  able  to  reach  them  and  lead  them  as  gov- 
ernment officials  could  never  da.    As  has  been  said 


198  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

elsewhere,  they  are  specialists  In  that  line.  This 
fact  the  government  fully  realizes,  and  It  Is  largely 
for  this  reason  that,  to  such  a  considerable  extent, 
general  education  is  left  in  the  hands  of  the  mis- 
sionaries. 

To  any  one  who  considers  the  agricultural  sit- 
uation in  Burma,  even  though  he  may  know  very 
little  indeed  about  agriculture,  problems  present 
themselves  In  plenty.  With  reference  to  lowland 
farming,  that  Is,  farming  on  the  plains,  the  soil  is 
at  present  suffering  constant  deterioration,  owing 
no  doubt  to  the  fact  that  there  is  no  rotation  of 
crops.  Just  what  should  be  done  to  remedy  this 
condition,  it  is  difficult  to  say,  as  climatic  condi- 
tions are  ill  suited  to  the  cultivation  of  anything 
but  rice.  Commercial  fertilizers  might  be  used  to 
some  extent,  but  they  are  so  expensive  that  their 
value  would  have  to  be  very  thoroughly  proved, 
else  they  would  not  be  employed  extensively.  The 
use  of  green  fertilizers  has  been  suggested,  but  so 
far  as  the  writer  knows,  has  never  been  given  a  fair 
trial.  The  proposal  is  to  cultivate  the  soy  bean, 
or  a  kind  of  split  pea  called  dhal,  the  roots  of 
which  gather  and  deposit  nitrogen,  and  to  plow  un- 
der the  stalks.  This  might  be  practicable,  pro- 
vided seasonable  and  other  conditions  permitted. 

It  would  probably  be  best  at  the  outset,  how- 
ever, to  endeavor  to  enrich  the  soil  by  adopting 
improved  local  methods  with  which  the  people  are 
already  somewhat  familiar.     The  mind  naturally 


A  NEGLECTED  OPPORTUNITY   199 

turns  to  the  use  of  manures ;  but,  to  begin  with,  the 
number  of  cattle  in  the  country  is  inadequate  for 
the  purpose.  This  is  chiefly  because  the  Burmese 
are  Buddhists  and  believe  that  to  take  animal  life 
is  one  of  the  worst  sins,  hence  are  not  naturally 
meat  eaters.  Furthermore,  their  cattle  being  of  a 
very  poor  variety  for  dairy  purposes,  they  have 
never  become  much  accustomed  to  the  use  of  dairy 
products.  Now,  however,  the  religious  prejudice 
is  being  gradually  overcome,  so  that  the  people 
are  more  and  more  learning  to  relish  a  meat  diet. 
Some  even  like  butter;  but  cheese,  certainly,  is  still 
a  mystery  to  the  average  inhabitant. 

But  even  if  the  demand  for  products  of  this 
kind  should  cause  the  supply  of  cattle  to  increase 
greatly — as  would  be  necessary  for  the  adequate 
fertilization  of  the  land — there  would,  under  pres- 
ent conditions,  be  difficulty  in  securing  grazing 
facihties  for  them.  Government  has  set  apart 
so-called  grazing  grounds  where  cattle  may  go, 
but  this  was  done  years  ago  and  the  grounds  are 
now  quite  insufficient.  In  any  case,  the  land  in 
these  is,  for  the  most  part,  so  low  as  to  be  un- 
suited  for  any  stock  except  the  carabao  or  water 
buffalo.  Some  means  would  therefore  need  to  be 
devised  by  which  cattle  could  be  furnished  with  a 
sufficient  supply  of  fodder.  Perhaps  the  use  of 
ensilage  would  be  worth  trying,  although  this 
again  involves  difficulties.  A  cheap  form  of  silo 
would  have  to  be  devised.     Special  crops  with 


200  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

which  to  fill  the  silos  would  need  to  be  grown; 
what  these  should  be  Is  uncertain.  The  writer  has 
seen  an  American  government  report  which  Indi- 
cates that  rice  stalks  have  sometimes  been  success- 
fully used  for  ensilage.  In  almost  every  neigh- 
borhood In  Burma,  there  are  tracts  of  land  which 
are  too  low  for  the  cultivation  of  the  ordinary 
kinds  of  rice.  There  Is,  however,  a  variety  which 
grows  In  deep  water.  It  Is  sown  while  the  water 
Is  still  shallow,  and  as  the  water  rises,  the  grain 
grows  with  it  and  keeps  pretty  well  up  to  the  sur- 
face. Men  go  out  In  boats  to  reap  It.  It  may  be 
that  this  rice  could  be  cultivated  to  be  used  ex- 
clusively for  ensilage.  Near  the  close  of  the 
rains  and  during  the  early  part  of  the  dry  season, 
Indian  Maize  might  be  grown  successfully  In  some 
places.  Granted  that  there  was  an  adequate  sup- 
ply of  cattle,  and  that  sufficient  fodder  could  be 
provided  for  them,  there  would  still  remain  the 
problem  of  the  care  and  use  of  the  manure  and  of 
the  Instruction  of  the  people  in  the  value  of  its 
conservation. 

Many  of  the  native  cattle  are  fine  looking  an- 
imals. They  are  used  chiefly  for  drawing  carts. 
The  native  never  thinks  of  fattening  cattle  for  the 
market.  If  he  allows  one  to  be  killed  for  beef,  it 
is  an  ox  which  has  become  too  old  and  feeble  to 
draw  a  cart  another  inch  or  a  cow  which  can  never 
give  another  drop  of  milk.  The  cattle  are  allowed 
to  run  promiscuously  and  little  is  known  about 


A  NEGLECTED  OPPORTUNITY   201 

stock  breeding,  although  it  is  probable  that  the 
native  cattle  are  capable  of  great  improvement. 
The  consequence  is  that  little  profit  is  derived 
from  them  as  compared  with  what  might  be  the 
case. 

Although  rice  is  a  staple  product  of  the  country, 
the  problem  of  improving  the  quality  and  quantity 
of  its  production  is  one  worthy  of  consideration. 
Upwards  of  sixty  different  varieties  of  rice  are 
found  in  Burma,  but  they  have  become  so  inter- 
mixed that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  find  pure 
seed.  Pure  seed  should  be  produced  and  distrib- 
uted to  the  people,  and  then  they  should  be  taught 
how  to  select  the  special  variety  suited  to  their 
needs,  with  the  methods  and  importance  of  keep- 
ing it  pure. 

Twenty  or  thirty  years  ago  oranges  of  good 
quality  were  grown  in  great  abundance  in  Burma. 
Now  they  are  scarce.  A  kind  of  blight  seems  to 
have  struck  nearly  all  the  groves.  The  writer  has 
communicated  with  the  government  micologist  of 
India,  but  he  seems  not  to  know  definitely  what 
the  disease  is,  nor  is  he  aware  of  any  cure  for  it. 
The  natives  of  Burma  are  entirely  ignorant  of  the 
science  of  tree-grafting.  Many  Karens  would  not 
believe  such  a  thing  possible  if  they  did  not  see  it 
mentioned  in  the  bible.  Of  course  they  can  know 
nothing  about  its  advantages,  although  no  doubt 
some  of  the  fruits  of  the  country  could  be  greatly 
improved  by  this  method.     The  natives  of  India 


202  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

have  already  produced  graft  mangoes  of  excellent 
quality.  The  orange,  the  lime,  the  durian,  the 
jack  fruit,  the  guava,  the  custard  apple  and  other 
varieties  also  might  profitably  undergo  a  similar 
process. 

Agricultural  Implements  is  another  subject  de- 
serving of  attention.  Those  in  use  are  exceedingly 
crude.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  not  altogether  easy 
for  one  who  is  not  an  expert  to  devise  anything 
better.  As  has  been  said,  American  plows  make 
too  deep  a  furrow,  even  if  adequate  means  of  draw- 
ing them  could  be  discovered;  American  reapers 
crush  down  more  grain  than  they  reap  in  the  small 
native  plot.  American  threshing  machines  might 
possibly  be  used  to  advantage  and  run  at  a  profit; 
but  some  one  would  have  to  take  one  out  there  first 
and  demonstrate  its  usefulness  before  the  natives 
could  be  expected  to  invest  in  anything  of  the  kind. 
In  general,  western  machinery  could  not  be  intro- 
duced bodily,  but  would  have  to  be  greatly  modi- 
fied to  suit  local  needs.  These  and  many  other 
problems  are  presented  in  the  midst  of  conditions 
which  are  so  utterly  different  from  those  prevailing 
in  America  or,  indeed,  anywhere  else  in  the  world, 
that  they  would  need  to  be  carefully  studied  on  the 
spot. 

But,  as  has  already  been  intimated,  it  is  in  upland 
or  hill  cultivation  that  the  most  serious  problems 
present  themselves,  and  it  is  here  also  that  the 
greatest  benefits  might  be  expected  to  accrue  to  the 


A  NEGLECTED  OPPORTUNITY   203 

Karen  people.     Upland  farming,  as  any  one  can 
see  by  the  description  given,  is  enormously  waste- 
ful.   To  think  of  cutting  down  from  five  to  fifteen 
or  twenty  years'  growth  of  timber  for  a  single  crop 
of  rice  is  well  nigh  appalling.     The  government 
has  tried  again  and  again,  to  find  some  means  for 
making  it  unnecessary,  but  is  still  baffled.     It  has 
gone  so  far  as  to  contemplate  the  entire  removal 
of  the  hill  tribes  bodily  to  the  plains,  compensating 
them  by  supplying  them  with  lands  and  even  with 
sustenance  there.     But  such  radical  measures  are 
highly  objectionable  and  will  probably  never  be 
adopted.     It  may  be  that  the  hills  could  be  suc- 
cessfully terraced  in  Burma  as  in  Japan,  although 
this  is  very  doubtful  on  account  of  the  rains  which 
are  so  heavy  that  they  would  probably  wash  away 
in  a  short  time  almost  any  terraces  which  could  be 
built.     Simpler  methods,  if  such  could  be  found, 
would  be  preferable.    Perhaps  the  difficulty  in  rais- 
ing more  than  one  crop  of  rice  is  due  to  some  de- 
ficiency in  the  soil,  unfitting  it  for  rice  cultivation 
in  particular,  for  wild  vegetation  grows  there  in 
great  profusion.    To  supply  this  deficiency  by  tak- 
ing commercial  fertilizers  up  into  the  hills,  where 
there  are  no  roads  and  everything  has  to  be  car- 
ried on  the  backs  of  pack  animals  or  of  men,  is 
out  of  the  question.    Fertilization  by  means  of  ma- 
nures, even  if  it  would  supply  the  deficiency,  which 
is  doubtful,  would  be  almost  equally  difficult  for 
a  variety  of  reasons,  one  of  which  Is  that,  on  ac- 


204  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

count  of  the  prevalence  of  wild  beasts,  it  is  difficult 
to  raise  cattle  extensively  in  the  hills.  It  may  be 
that,  instead  of  rice,  other  crops,  such  as  nuts  or 
some  kinds  of  fruit,  could  be  grown  in  the  hills  and 
exchanged  for  the  rice  of  the  plains.  A  kind  of 
nut,  called  the  dog  nut,  which  is  much  relished  by 
the  Burmese  in  their  cooking,  grows  freely  and 
abundantly  in  the  hills  and  brings  a  good  price  on 
the  plains.  If  a  beginning  could  be  made  in  this 
way  so  that  the  cultivation  of  the  hills  would  be 
more  remunerative,  roads  could  be  improved,  and, 
with  better  roads,  facilities  would  be  increased  and 
other  methods  might  be  adopted.  Crops  which  are 
not  profitable  now  might  prove  to  be  profitable. 
There  are  also  little  gardens  up  in  the  valleys 
among  the  hills  which  might  perhaps  be  improved 
or  turned  to  better  account.  It  is  these  gardens 
which  really  hold  many  of  the  hill  Karens  to  their 
present  abodes.  They  depend  on  irrigation. 
The  soil  in  them  is  excellent,  and  they  are  kept  in 
a  high  state  of  cultivation.  At  present  they  are 
used  for  the  raising  of  betel  nut  for  local  con- 
sumption. They  might  perhaps  be  turned  to  the 
cultivation  of  much  more  valuable  crops.  In  any 
case,  it  seems  unquestionable  that  the  hill  districts 
could  be  made  to  support  a  vastly  larger  popula- 
tion than  now,  and  they  are  the  natural  habitat  of 
the  Karens. 

Much  of  the  preliminary  work  which  wouldneed 
to  be  done  in  order  to  make  any  project  for  the 


A  NEGLECTED  OPPORTUNITY   205 

improvement    of    agricultural    conditions    worth 
while,  has  already  been  accomplished.     For  the 
co-operation  of  the  human  element  is  after  all  one 
of  the  most  vital  factors  In  the  success  of  any  such 
undertaking.    There  Is  a  large  Christian  commun- 
ity, consisting  chiefly  of  farmers,  which  through 
many  years  of  training  has  developed  habits  of  in- 
dependence and  initiative.     Among  these  people 
are  not  a  few  men  of  Intelligence  and  progressive- 
ness  who  are  eager  to  adopt  any  suggestions  for 
the  betterment  of  their  condition  and  the  condition 
of  their  race.    The  writer  was  once  showing  some 
Christian  Karens  connected  with  his  mission  the 
use  of  a  preparation  called  a  * 'shrub  eradlcator,'* 
which  had  been  given  him  by  an  officer  of  the  gov- 
ernment engineering  department.     The  prepara- 
tion, which  is  much  like  yellow  clay  In  appearance, 
is  first  dissolved  in  water,  and  then  the  water  is 
sprinkled  on  any  weeds  or  other  shrubbery  which 
It  Is  desired  to  destroy.     In  two  or  three  days,  the 
leaves  turn  yellow,  and  the  shrub  dies.    One  of  the 
Karens  asked  for  a  handful  of  the  preparation. 
As  he  lived  some  distance  away,  the  missionary 
saw  nothing  more  of  the  man  for  several  months. 
Then  he  appeared  again  and  asked  for  some  more 
of  the  eradlcator.    The  missionary  asked  him  what 
he  had  done  with  the  former  supply,  and  he  said 
he  had  used  it  to  destroy  an  annoying  parasite 
which  is  frequently  to  be  seen  growing  on  trees  In 
Burma.    This  parasite  finds  lodgment  in  some  way 


206  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

on  a  branch  of  a  tree.  It  grows  to  be  a  shrub  of 
considerable  size,  and  sends  rootlets  up  and  down 
the  branch  which  adhere  to  it  very  closely.  One 
may  tear  off  the  shrub,  but  if  a  piece  of  the  root 
so  much  as  an  inch  in  length  is  allowed  to  remain 
on  the  tree,  it  will  grow  again  and  thrive  as  be- 
fore. The  Karen  man  said  he  had  torn  off  the 
shrub,  dissolved  some  of  the  preparation,  damp- 
ened a  cloth  with  the  solution  and  wrapped  the 
cloth  about  the  branch  where  the  rootlets  were. 
After  a  few  days  he  found  that  the  rootlets  were 
dead  and  easily  stripped  off  so  that  not  a  vestige 
remained.  Then,  in  order  that  the  tree  Itself 
might  suffer  no  damage  from  the  effect  of  the 
solution,  he  has  plastered  that  part  of  the  branch 
with  mud,  and  found  that  the  tree  remained  in  a 
perfectly  healthy  condition.  This  showed  no  little 
degree  of  ingenuity  on  the  part  of  the  inexperi- 
enced Karen.  Probably  an  arboricultural  expert 
could  have  done  no  better. 

The  needs  are  great,  the  possibilities  well  nlghl 
boundless.  What  can  be  done  to  meet  the  situa" 
tion?  It  is  quite  probable  that,  in  normal  times, 
the  government  would  give  substantial  aid  if  a 
mission  were  in  a  position  to  do  something  really 
worth  while  towards  the  development  of  the  native 
people  in  scientific  agriculture.  There  are,  more- 
over, some  things  which  the  government  would 
need  to  do  if  they  were  done  at  all;  the  construc- 
tion of  roads,  the  terracing  of  the  hills, — if  such 


A  NEGLECTED  OPPORTUNITY   207 

a  plan  were  deemed  feasible, — and  the  opening  of 
fresh  tracts  for  cultivation.  In  general  the  gov- 
ernment is  generously  disposed  towards  projects 
for  the  betterment  of  the  conditions  of  the  people, 
but  it  is  probable  that  in  these  present  times,  at 
least  a  substantial  start  would  have  to  be  made  by 
private  initiative  before  Government  could  be  ap- 
proached with  any  likeHhood  of  success.  It  would 
be  worse  than  useless  to  attempt  much  beyond 
school  gardens  on  an  ordinary  missionary  appro- 
priation, even  if  to  that  were  added  possible  gifts 
from  the  native  churches.  And  yet  the  expense  in- 
volved need  not  necessarily  be  very  great.  In 
China  vast  plans  are  on  foot  for  medical  advance- 
ment involving  the  expenditure  of  millions  of 
money.  An  assured  annual  income  of  $2,000  or 
$3,000  would  make  it  possible  for  one  man,  a 
trained  missionary  agricultural  specialist,  to  devote 
his  entire  time  to  this  phase  of  the  work  and  sup- 
ply him  with  a  small  appropriation  for  expenses, 
and  thus  enable  him  to  enter  an  open  door  of  op- 
portunity. Naturally,  he  could  do  little  theoretical 
work  until  he  knew  something  of  the  language  and 
the  people,  but,  while  he  was  engaged  in  becoming 
familiar  with  these,  he  could  well  begin  work  on 
vocational  training  in  the  schools.  The  supervision 
of  school  gardens  in  various  centers  would  help  to 
create  a  morale  for  scientific  agriculture  among  the 
older,  brighter  pupils, — the  class  that  now  covets 
clerical  posts  and  the  like.    In  time,  this  practical 


208  A  STAR  II?  THE  EAST 

garden  work  could  be  supplemented  by  a  simple 
course  on  the  subject  In  the  school  curriculum. 

The  next  step  in  the  work  might  well  be  the 
establishment  of  two  experiment  stations,  one  for 
the  study  of  the  problems  of  lowland  and  the  other 
[for  those  of  upland  farming.  There  are  districts 
where  the  two  types  are  in  progress  in  close  enough 
proximity  for  one  man  to  have  general  oversight 
of  both.  Pupils  from  the  schools  who  had  shown 
special  aptitude  for  this  science  might  be  induced 
to  specialize  and  train  themselves  for  further  work 
of  the  kind.  Undoubtedly  the  missionary  would 
be  able  to  get  experienced  Christian  farmers  to  at- 
tempt the  practical  solution  of  individual  prob- 
lems either  at  the  station  or  on  their  own  lands 
under  his  direction.  The  holding  of  institutes  open 
to  the  people  at  large  where  instruction  might  be 
be  given  in  farming,  with  demonstrations,  as  is 
done  in  some  parts  of  America,  might  prove  a  good 
means  of  disseminating  the  results  gained  from 
the  experimentation  and  so  making  it  of  more  gen- 
eral value.  Such  institutes,  if  properly  conducted, 
would  doubtless  be  very  popular  and  might  accom- 
plish much.  As  the  whole  scheme  developed,  the 
establishment  of  a  special  school  or  college  of 
agriculture  might  prove  to  be  a  desirable  step. 
This  could  be  done  gradually  as  native  teachers 
were  trained  to  give  instruction.  With  the  growth 
of  the  work  might  ultimately  come  the  opening  up 
of  new  lands  for  cultivation  and  perhaps  the  im- 


A  NEGLECTED  OPPORTUNITY   209 

provement  of  communications,  together  with  any- 
thing else  which  would  tend  to  the  betterment  of 
the  conditions  among  the  farming  community.  The 
youth  growing  up  would  see  farming  and  its  prob- 
lems put  on  a  par  with  other  occupations  as  worthy 
of  study,  and  they  would  be  likely  to  feel  more  in- 
terest in  it  as  a  life  work  and  attack  the  problems 
more  intelligently.  The  total  result  would  be  to  in- 
crease greatly  the  prosperity  of  the  Karen  people, 
advance  them  in  civilization  as  perhaps  could  be 
done  in  no  other  way,  and  give  them  «.^'truer  con- 
ception of  the  many-sided  completeness  and  ade- 
quacy of  the  Christian  religion.  And  the  expense, 
if  the  plan  were  carried  out  gradually  in  a  modest 
way  need  not  be  very  great. 

Millions  are  being  generously  given  today  for 
literary  colleges,  and  tens  of  millions  for  medical 
schools  in  the  Orient.  Where  are  the  thousands 
to  come  from  which  will  help  not  only  to  advance 
an  entire  race  along  the  lines  of  improved  scien- 
tific agriculture,  but  also  to  make  progress  in  all 
true  culture  and  excellence  ? 


XV 
A  CALL  TO  ARMS 

REFERENCE  has  been  made  to  the  stress 
of  the  religious  conditions  which  are  con- 
fronting the  Karen  Christians  of  Burma 
and  to  the  great  conflict  of  religions  which  awaits 
the  people  of  God  everywhere.  As  there  has 
sprung  upon  the  world  in  recent  years  such  a  gen- 
eral and  catastrophic  contest  of  arms  as  has  never 
before  been  known,  so  there  is  about  to  break 
forth,  has  already  broken  forth,  a  spiritual  con- 
flict in  comparison  with  which  any  previous  clash 
of  weapons  will  seem  like  a  child's  quarrel,  a  battle 
of  spiritual  forces  in  which  many  of  the  shrewdest 
minds  of  the  West  will  unite  with  the  subtlest 
minds  of  the  East  to  overwhelm  and  put  to  utter 
rout  the  forces  of  Him  who  hung  upon  the  tree  of 
Calvary.  The  outcome  of  the  struggle  Is  certain, 
as  sure  as  the  promises  of  God,  as  firm  as  the 
eternal  hills  of  truth  and  righteousness.  But  the 
people  of  God  everywhere  need  to  gird  themselves 
afresh  for  the  fight.  Especially  is  it  important  that 
the  Christians  of  America  should  set  themselves  in 
array,  for  It  is  to  that  favored  land  that  the  na- 

210 


A  CALL  TO  ARMS  211 

tions  of  the  earth  must  now  look  for  light  and 
leading,  and  the  missionary  feels  keenly  that  his 
own  efficiency  and  the  strength  of  the  work  as  a 
whole  must  depend  in  large  degree  on  the  spiritual 
resources  which  are  behind  him  in  the  home  land. 

To  nothing  is  the  missionary  more  deeply  sen- 
sitive than  to  the  thought  and  Hfe  of  God's  people 
throughout  the  world.  He  studies  the  religious 
periodicals,  he  pores  over  the  issues  of  the  press, 
he  notes  trends  and  tendencies,  wondering  ever 
how  they  will  affect  the  great,  the  world-wide  is- 
sues before  him.  Especially  is  he  sensitive  to  the 
varying  tides  of  thought  which  have  their  move- 
ments now  this  way,  now  that,  for  he  knows  that 
sooner  or  later,  beliefs  will  have  their  sure  effect 
upon  the  life,  and  interpretations  of  doctrine  will 
enter  into  and  stimulate  or  enervate  the  sinews  of 
spiritual  strength. 

First  of  all,  then,  there  is  needed  on  the  part 
of  God's  people  a  deep  "digging  In"  with  regard  to 
his  word.  As,  in  modern  warfare,  the  soldiers 
at  the  front  are  wont  to  *'dlg  in,"  to  lay  deep 
trenches  in  the  earth,  so  in  the  revealed  word,  and 
especially  in  the  great  truths  of  redemption  and 
grace,  the  Christian  world  must  dig  in.  There  is 
needed  a  revival  of  doctrine.  By  this  is  not  meant 
a  re-formulation  of  creeds  or  an  emphasis  on  dog- 
ma, but  a  deep  appreciation  on  the  part  of  God's 
people  of  the  great  fundamental  truths  of  the  gos- 
pel, the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  the  Christian 


212  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

religion.  Let  it  be  understood  to  start  out  with 
that  these  are  not  principles  which  commend  them- 
selves to  the  natural  man.  As  it  was  written  of  old, 
to  the  Jew  they  are  a  stumbling  block  and  to  the 
Greek  foolishness.  Yet  it  is  to  these  very  doc- 
trines— not  the  things  in  which  the  Christian  re- 
ligion is  like  other  religions,  but  the  things  which 
differentiate  it  from  all  other  faiths — that  atten- 
tion needs  to  be  especially  given,  and  upon  these 
that  stress  must  be  laid.  The  atonement,  through 
the  work  upon  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  divine 
Son  of  God;  salvation  by  grace  through  faith;  the 
power  of  the  living  and  ascended  Lord  in  the 
hearts  of  his  people  by  the  Spirit — these  are  things 
that  Buddhism  and  Confucianism  and  Hindooism 
and  Mohammedanism  know  nothing  of.  They 
are  distinctly  hostile  to  every  other  faith,  unthink- 
able and  incomprehensible  to  the  unregeneratie 
man.  Yet  it  is  on  these  doctrines,  on  these  great 
fundamental  verities  of  Christian  life  and  expe- 
rience, that  the  Christian  religion  is  based.  By 
these  the  hope  of  God^s  people  everywhere  must 
stand  or  fall.  No  doubt  much  has  already  been 
said  and  written  on  these  mighty  themes,  but  they 
need  still  to  be  dwelt  upon,  to  be  studied  into, 
to  be  investigated,  for  they  are  inexhaustible.  There 
is  need  enough  that  this  should  be  done  not  only 
for  the  enrichment  of  the  religious  life  of  God's 
people  at  home,  but  also  for  the  girding  up  of  their 
strength,  for  even  in  America  mighty  conflicts  are 


A  CALL  TO  ARMS  213 

impending  against  insidious  foes.  But  for  the 
strengthening  of  the  forces  abroad  on  the  firing 
line,  it  is  indispensable. 

But,  if  this  deeper  study  of  the  word  and  medita- 
tion on  its  teachings  are  needed,  still  more  is  re- 
quired a  deeper  consecration  on  the  part  of  the 
people  of  God  for  the  carrying  forward  of  the 
work  of  world-wide  evangelization. 

The  true  missionary  ideal  Is  at  the  farthest  pos- 
sible remove  from  the  spirit  of  asceticism.  Suf- 
fering in  itself  has  no  merit  or  advantage  on  the 
mission  field  or  anywhere  else.  Whatever  may 
have  been  true  In  the  past,  it  is  now  recognized  as 
the  duty  of  the  missionary  to  maintain  himself  in 
as  fair  a  degree  of  comfort  and  well-being  as  is 
consistent  with  his  means  and  his  environment.  But 
the  spirit  of  genuine  self-sacrifice,  that  spirit  which 
enables  its  possessor  to  endure  all  things  that  are 
needful  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  great  end, 
and  yet  is  utterly  unconscious  of  itself,  not  even 
aware  that  any  sacrifice  is  involved,  that  is  of  the 
essence  of  Christian  living  the  world  over  and  it  is 
indispensable  to  the  missionary's  most  effective 
work.  For  the  missionary  must  not  simply  make 
converts,  gather  them  into  churches  and  instil  into 
their  hearts  the  principles  of  the  gospel,  but  he 
must  also  seek  to  bring  about  the  deepening  of 
their  spiritual  life.  All  of  these  objects  save  the 
last  may  be  accomplished  by  preaching  and  instruc- 
tion, but  this  can  seemingly  be  brought  about  b)5 


214  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

means  of  example  only.  And  it  Is  often  the  case 
that  the  native  Christian — It  Is  a  solemn,  soul- 
subduing  thing  to  say — Is  disciplined,  chastened, 
refined,  In  the  person  of  the  missionary. 

The  writer  may  perhaps  be  pardoned  for  re- 
ferring here  to  the  experience  of  his  father.  The 
work  of  the  latter  at  Shwegyin  began,  as  so  much 
of  the  work  on  the  foreign  field  Is  done,  amid  both 
smiles  and  tears,  both  sunshine  and  shadow.  Of 
the  former  mention  has  already  been  made  In  the 
conversion  of  Saw  Tah  Ree  and  the  formation  of 
the  first  church  of  Shwegyin  seven  weeks  and  a  day 
after  Mr.  Harris's  arrival  at  that  station.  But 
cloud  and  gloom  soon  came  upon  this  little  band, 
for,  shortly  after  those  converts  had  been  baptized 
and  the  little  company  of  disciples  had  observed 
the  Lord's  Supper  together  for  the  first  time,  the 
missionary's  wife,  who  had  contracted  a  disease 
common  to  the  country,  but  had  somewhat  recov- 
ered, suffered  a  relapse.  It  soon  became  evident 
that  she  had  not  much  longer  to  live.  It  Is  said 
that  In  her  youth  she  was  very  much  afraid  of 
death,  so  much  so  that,  when  her  own  mother  died 
in  a  farm  house  on  the  Berkshire  hills  of  Massa- 
chusetts, she  dared  not  go  Into  the  room  where  the 
body  lay,  but  peered  In  through  the  window.  But 
now,  when  the  time  of  her  own  departure  was  at 
hand,  knowing  how  hard  It  would  be  for  her  hus- 
band to  perform  the  last  sad  rites — for  there  was 
no  other  white  woman  within  hundreds  of  miles  of 


\  A  CALL  TO  ARMS  215 

the  place — she  pointed  out  the  dress  she  wished  to 
wear,  helped  to  put  it  on,  saw  to  the  combing  of 
her  hair,  did  all  she  could  to  prepare  herself  for 
burial,  and  when  everything  was  complete  so  far 
as  she  could  make  it,  she  turned  to  her  husband 
and  said: 

*'It  Is  not  often  that  a  mother  has  to  array  her- 
self for  her  own  funeral,  but  I  have  done  it  with 
as  much  composure  as  if  I  were  going  out  to  make 
a  call."  After  preparing  the  crude  coffin  with  his 
own  hands,  placing  the  body  in  it  and  burying  it 
with  the  aid  of  the  few  disciples  who  were  about, 
the  sorrowing  husband  and  father  had  to  take  the 
four  little  children  to  Moulmein  and  put  them  in 
the  care  of  a  missionary  lady  returning  to  America. 
As  he  stood  on  the  deck  and  bade  them  good-bye, 
one  little  fellow  put  his  arms  around  his  father's 
neck,  and  said: 

'*I  cannot  let  you  go,  papa.  I  cannot  let  you 
go."  And  the  father  put  his  head  tenderly  over 
the  little  one  and  said: 

"Can't  we  do  this  for  Jesus  ?" 

Can  it  be  doubted  that  when  the  missionary  went 
back  to  his  field  the  memory  of  the  triumphant 
death  of  that  saintly  woman  and  the  presence 
among  them  of  one  whom  they  greatly  loved  en- 
during, for  their  sakes,  separation  from  all  he  held 
dear,  and  moving  among  them  without  complaint, 
with  only  kindly  smiles  and  cheerful  words  for 
them  and  theirs — can  it  be  doubted  that  it  meant 


216  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

much  to  the  spiritual  life  of  those  new  converts? 
To  this  day  the  Karen  disciples  of  the  Shwegyin 
mission,  by  the  common  consent  of  those  who  know 
them,  shed  forth  a  peculiar  aroma  of  Christian 
resignation  and  submissive  trust.  In  all  probability 
this  has  been  due  in  no  small  degree  to  the  influence 
of  their  first  missionary. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  digress  just  here 
for  the  purpose  of  touching  briefly  on  the  subject 
of  that  supreme  sacrifice  of  missionary  life,  the 
separation  of  families.  Is  it  right?  Even  though 
the  missionary  himself  may  be  wlUing  to  endure 
all  the  privations  and  hardships  which  may  be  in- 
volved in  his  work,  is  he  justified  in  making  his 
children  suffer  with  him?  Do  not  his  obligations 
as  a  father  require  that  he  should  give  them  the 
personal  care  and  training  which  only  a  father  can 
bestow?  It  is  a  difficult  problem.  No  missionary 
ever  undertakes  to  tell  another  what  he  should  do. 
But  it  is  evident  that  Jesus  considered  it  quite 
within  the  range  of  possibility  that  his  disciples 
would  have  to  do  that  very  thing,  for  he  pro- 
nounces blessing  upon  those  who  leave  father  and 
mother  and  wife  and  children  for  his  sake  and  the 
gospel's,  and  we  may  be  sure  he  thought  all  around 
the  subject.  In  other  occupations  men  leave  their 
children  not  only  without  incurring  criticism,  but 
even  sometimes  receiving  high  praise.  If  Lord 
Roberts  was  glad  to  give  up  his  children  and  lay 
them  away  in  foreign  graves  in  order  that  he  might 


\  A  CALL  TO  ARMS  217 

serve  his  queen,  may  not  the  missionary  do  much 
the  same  thing  for  the  service  of  the  Great  King? 
There  Is  this  also  to  be  said,  that  In  not  a  few  in- 
stances the  children  of  missionaries  have  them- 
selves caught  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  from  their 
parents  and  have  been  willing  to  take  up  and  en- 
dure gladly  the  heart  grief,  not  because  they  loved 
their  parents  less  than  other  children  love  their  par- 
ents— the  ties  are  often  more  than  usually  close  in 
the  families  of  missionaries — butbecause  they  loved 
the  great  cause  more  than  they  loved  their  own  com- 
fort. *'Then,  who  will  tell  those  poor  people  about 
Jesus?"  was  the  first  question  of  one  such  mission- 
ary daughter  when  she  was  Informed  of  the  death 
of  her  father  which  had  just  taken  place  on  his 
field  of  labor.  No  thought  of  her  own  great  loss ! 
When  God  in  his  mercy  takes  the  children  of  mis- 
sionaries in  a  special  manner  under  his  brooding 
care  and  instils  in  them  such  a  spirit,  may  not  that 
be  compensation  enough  even  to  those  children 
themselves  for  all  that  they  have  suffered?  Is  not 
the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  Itself  a  rich  possession, 
and  may  it  not  even  have  a  restraining,  a  directing, 
a  purifying,  an  Inspiring  influence  over  the  one 
who  has  it,  though  that  person  be  but  a  little  child, 
more  than  equaling  all  the  oversight  and  care  that 
father  or  mother  can  give  ? 

Will,  then,  the  people  of  God  in  America  unite 
with  the  missionary,  as  never  before,  in  that  spirit 
of  real  self-sacrifice  which  is  demanded  not  of  the 


218  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

missionary  alone,  but  of  every  true  follower  of 
Christ?  There  is  nothing  which  the  servant  of 
God  more  deeply  craves.  It  is  needful  for  the 
effective  conduct  of  the  work  of  world  evangeliza- 
tion that  the  entire  life  and  thought  of  Christ's 
people  everywhere  should  be  bound  up  in  the 
mighty  grip  of  one  common  devotion. 

Finally,  there  is  needed  on  the  part  of  God's 
people  in  the  home  land  a  truer  appreciation  of  the 
stupendousness  and  at  the  same  time  of  the  worth- 
whileness  of  the  missionary  enterprise.  If  the 
hosts  of  Satan  from  the  West  as  well  as  from  the 
East  are  to  unite  in  this  great  conflict,  if  the 
brightest  minds  to  be  found  anywhere  are  to  be 
engaged  in  battle  against  the  Lord  and  against 
his  Anointed,  then  surely  the  very  best  possible 
equipment  is  needed  for  the  carrying  on  of  this 
warfare  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  Christ,  the 
best  training,  the  keenest  intelligence,  the  com- 
pletest  endowment.  "The  best  belongs  to  the 
worst,"  is  an  aphorism  to  which  a  noted  divine 
gave  expression,  but  he  was  content  to  remain  in 
his  aristocratic  pulpit  and  minister  to  his  people 
the  sparkling  scintillations  of  his  brilliant  mind. 
That  which  many  admit  as  a  theory  must  become 
an  inner  conviction  on  the  part  of  God's  people 
and  a  spring  of  effective  action.  "Why  should 
you  go  to  Asia  to  throw  away  your  talents  on  the 
heathen?  You  are  needed  in  this  country,"  is  a 
species  of  foolish  flattery  which  might  be  passed 


A  CALL  TO  ARMS  219 

over  in  silence  were  it  not  too  often  the  expression 
of  sober  opinion  on  the  part  of  leading  lights 
among  the  churches  of  America.  Whatever  ad- 
vantages of  education  and  culture  the  missionary 
may  have  had,  and  however  assiduously  he  may 
have  applied  himself  to  getting  to  the  full  their 
benefits,  he  will  feel  that  he  needs  the  expenditure 
of  every  available  power,  latent  or  acquired,  in  the 
prosecution  of  his  work. 

Even  from  the  point  of  view  of  him  who  thinks 
only  in  terms  of  weights  and  measures,  and  num- 
bers and  values,  and  muscle  and  brawn  the  mission- 
ary enterprise  is  worth  while.  Many  people  in 
western  lands  are  engaged  in  works  of  mercy,  in 
prison  reform,  in  the  suppression  of  child  labor,  in 
alleviating  the  condition  of  workers  in  sweat  shops, 
in  securing  sanitary  surroundings  in  the  slums  of 
cities.  All  honor  to  such,  to  every  one  who  labors 
for  the  advancement  of  humanity  in  any  direction. 
But  where  is  there  on  the  face  of  the  earth  an  en- 
terprise in  which  a  handful  of  people  havewrought, 
as  among  the  Karens,  the  conservation  of  an  entire 
race,  and  that,  not  as  the  main  thing  sought,  but 
merely  as  a  by-product?  From  any  and  every 
point  of  view  the  work  of  Christian  missions  may 
challenge  comparison  with  any  other  work  for 
the  advancement  of  good  among  men. 

Let  Christian  people  everywhere,  then,  arise. 
As  God  has  brought  peace  and  prosperity  to  the 
Karens  of  Burma  and  outpoured  his  blessing  upon 


220  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

them  as  a  race,  even  though  some  refused  to  accept 
his  word,  so  will  God  yet  outpour  his  grace  and 
his  blessing,  his  peace  and  his  glory  upon  all  the 
world,  and  every  tongue  shall  confess  and  every 
knee  shall  bow.  The  missionary  enterprise  worth 
while?  When  the  glint  in  the  dewdrop  turns 
black,  when  the  sheen  of  the  rainbow  ceases,  when 
the  sun  and  the  moon  and  the  stars  are  darkened 
in  the  sky,  when  gloom  is  better  than  brightness, 
when  death  is  preferable  to  life,  when  it  is  better 
to  doubt  and  fear,  cringe  and  shrink,  whine  and 
moan,  weep  and  shudder,  than  to  leap  and  shout 
and  sing,  when  melancholy  is  to  be  preferred  to 
gladness,  when  it  is  the  height  of  wisdom  to  seek 
despair,  then,  the  missionary  enterprise  may  prove 
a  failure! 

Is  the  lesson  of  the  book  clear?  Has  the  writer 
succeeded  in  bringing  out  forcibly  his  dominant 
thought?  There  shines  a  star  in  the  East.  It  is  a 
morning  star.  While  still  the  other  heavens  are 
dark,  with  only  a  faint  glimmer  of  light  here  and 
there,  it  gleams.  Not  that  its  luster  is  always 
clear  and  pure.  Rather,  like  twinkling  stars,  it 
now  flashes  out,  then  darkens,  now  flashes  out, 
then  darkens.  At  first  there  was  that  wonderful 
light  which  shone  out  in  the  Karen  tradition,  that 
conception  of  God  as  holy,  righteous,  transcendent, 
infinite,  eternal,  ineffable.  Then  there  was  the 
dimming  of  that  light  by  grosser  thoughts,  ob- 
scurer notions  of  the  Infinite  One,  and  the  strange, 


A  CALL  TO  ARMS  221 

fearful  delusion  by  Satan.  But  again  there  flashed 
forth  the  messages  of  the  prophets,  speaking  of 
hope  and  cheer,  of  repentance  and  remission,  of 
forgiveness  and  pardon,  with  the  renewal  of  bless- 
ing and  favor.  Once  more  there  came  the  dark- 
ening, the  waning  faith  of  hope  long  deferred,  the 
doubts  and  fears  of  a  race  ground  down  under  the 
heel  of  oppression.  Later  came  the  glad  moment 
when  hopes  that  had  been  dimmed  suddenly 
gleamed  forth  again.  The  book,  the  book,  the 
long  lost  book  had  come!  It  was  here.  The 
younger  brother,  with  white  skin  and  loving  eyes, 
was  here !  He  spoke  of  life  and  joy.  He  brought 
with  him  wonderful  things.  He  was  indeed  the 
son  to  whom  Father  God  had  imparted  all  wis- 
dom, his  wisdom  would  soon  be  theirs;  they  would 
be  a  nation  again,  and  place  their  feet  upon  the 
necks  of  their  enemies.  There  were  shouts  of  joy, 
heralds  of  gladness  to  bid  welcome  to  the  white 
brother  and  to  summon  all  the  people  to  the  feast. 
Then  there  was  disappointment.  Not  In  physical 
luxury  and  temporal  splendor  was  the  new  king- 
dom to  arise;  it  was  to  be  a  spiritual  empire,  a 
reign  of  meekness,  of  sobriety,  of  truth.  What  I 
Had  they  not  suffered  enough?  Had  they  not 
long  enough  occupied  the  seats  of  the  humble? 
Was  this  to  be  all?  Hark  back  then  to  the  past. 
Serve  Satan  again.  Cast  off  the  new  fetters  and 
return  to  the  old.  And  so  again  a  period  of  gloom, 
a  darkening  of  the  shadows,  the  dimming  of  hope 


222  A  STAR  IN  THE  EAST 

and  faith  and  enthusiasm  and  zeal.  But  gradually 
once  more  there  has  been  the  quiet,  steady  gleam- 
ing forth  of  a  brighter,  truer  faith,  a  hope  that 
shall  never  be  dimmed,  the  deep,  sweet  conscious- 
ness of  God,  the  submissive  trust,  the  inner  spiritual 
perception,  the  confidence  of  things  unseen  yet  real. 
Not  that  even  this  faith  is  perfect,  this  light  com- 
plete. Only  this  is  to  be  said  of  it' — it  gleams  on 
and  on  with  increasing  luster  and  beauty  until  per- 
chance— ^who  knows? — it  may  be  a  guiding  star 
for  many. 

But  this  is  not  all.  It  cannot  be.  No,  this  star 
that  shines  so  brightly  ushers  in  the  dawn  that  shall 
yet  illumine  the  whole  East.  As  this  star  is  now 
gleaming,  a  single  speck  of  light  against  a  be- 
nighted sky,  so  soon,  yes,  very  soon — sooner  per- 
haps than  even  the  most  hopeful  prophets  of  today 
dare  think — not  single  stars  here  and  there,  but  the 
whole  sky  will  be  lighted  up,  the  entire  East  will 
glow  with  radiance  and  splendor.  And  then — and 
then — who  knows? — that  may  be  the  appointed 
time  when  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  will  arise  and 
illumine  the  whole  world  with  his  radiance,  when 
with  a  shout  of  victory,  the  Lord  himself  shall  re- 
turn, and  the  fulfilment  of  all  things  spoken  at  the 
mouth  of  the  holy  prophets  may  be  accomplished. 
God  speed  the  day ! 

This  all  too  fragmentary  account  of  Christian 
missions  to  the  Karens  of  Burma  has  been  given, 
not  for  its  own  sake  alone,  but  in  order  that  it 


A  CALL  TO  ARMS  228 

might  cheer  the  people  of  God  and  spur  them  on 
in  the  confident  expectation  that,  great  as  have  been 
the  achievements  of  God's  grace  among  this  people 
so  great  and  even  greater  will  doubtless  be  the 
triumphs  of  his  power  and  love,  over  all  the  na- 
tions that  are  now  shrouded  in  darkness,  not  only 
in  Asia,  but  in  Africa,  in  South  America,  in  the 
Isles  of  the  sea,  and  wherever  sin,  pain,  wretched- 
ness and  need  are  found.  The  Prince  of  Peace 
shall  yet  reign.  What  though  the  nations  rage! 
There  is  a  God  who  will  surely  make  the  wrath 
of  man  to  praise  him.  And  there  will  come  a  day 
when  men  shall  beat  their  spears  into  pruning 
hooks,  and  wars  shall  cease  and  strifes  will  be  o'er, 
and  love  will  abound  and  righteousness  will  flour- 
ish, and  Him  whose  right  it  is  to  reign  shall  all 
nations  serve. 


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A  star  in  the  East;  an  account  of 


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